Darker Than Black: Pure Sorrow
by Koury Coving
Summary: Kiyoko is a girl with an extremely dysfunctional family. She often gets into fights, but her parents merely seem disappointed. So what happens if Kiyoko is thrown onto the streets to fend for herself in one of the biggest hot spots for Contractors? Is her sorrow deep enough to make her become one herself?
1. Chapter 1

Darker Than Black: Pure Sorrow

Chapter 1

Kiyoko

The year was 2007, July 7th. That's 7/7/07, definitely some lucky numbers. A new child had just been born, a girl. Her smile was beautiful, and her parents could not have been happier to have her. They named her Kiyoko, meaning pure, for it was their wish that she have as pure a heart as she could have.

Her parents, Mizuki and Takeshi, were quite humble, and quite poor. Taking care of a daughter might be hard, but they were determined. Sadly, their determination didn't pay off as expected. When Kiyoko was going into her last year of high school, they seemed together on the outside, but it was truly quite a different story. Kiyoko never admitted it to any of her peers, but her home was a wreck. Mizuki and Takeshi did not seem able to stop fighting, and since Kiyoko didn't have any friends, she dealt with it the only way she could…

* * *

The sun shone brightly on Kuro High School. It was one of the first days back from summer, and there was no breeze. Instead of sheltering from the heat, a large group of kids circled two people. All were pouding their fists in the air and shouting, "Fight, fight, fight!" Their voices raised as one of the people, Kiyoko, had been knocked to the ground.

"Ha, is that the best you can do?" the girl Kiyoko was fighting sneered. "Honestly, my little brother can beat you up!"

Kiyoko wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and glanced at it; there was blood. That blow took her by surprise, and was powerful enough to make her dizzy for a few seconds. She smiled coyly, showing her bloodied teeth, as she pushed herself to her feet.

"Not bad for an amateur, Kei. But then, you are pretty skinny, you've got practically no muscle to talk about."

Kei's sneer disappeared from her face and her eyes flared with anger. All of the surrounding kids fell silent, for they all knew that was no insult to be taken lightly. Kuro High was known to be very strong in their sporting areas; especially boxing. It just so happened that Kei was the undefeated champion for the High School's Boxing League, and she was always ready to prove that she deserved that crown. She pulled her fist back for another blow, but this time Kiyoko was ready and she easily side-stepped. She made a _tut-tut _sound with her tongue and shook her head.

"You might need to get just a little better with your aim there," she said mockingly. This threw Kei into a frenzy. She kept throwing punch after punch after punch, even a few kicks. Yet Kiyoko remained untouched. "Strength isn't everything, you know," she lectured, "you need to have speed-" she tossed in a few quick punches to Kei's gut, then ducked out of the way, "-and anticipation-" Kiyoko grabbed Kei's fist as it came toward her, "-and flexibility." Kiyoko twisted herself around, causing Kei's arm to bend just a little too far in the wrong way. Once Kiyoko heard the satisfying _SNAP _of the bone, she let go.

Kei fell to the ground with a scream of pain. The group of people that had been surrounding the two girls fell silent with shock. Kiyoko had just done something that was even hard for most of the boys in the school. They parted as Kiyoko started walking toward the school exit with a small smile. That was too easy; Kei should have never messed with Kiyoko's papers, those things were important. It wasn't hard to get out of the school, all of the teachers were trying to break the circle to get into Kei, and no one dared to tell them that it was Kiyoko who had done it.

Kiyoko stooped down and grabbed her back pack- she had thrown it aside right before the fight- and started walking home. As she got to her street, an ambulance roared by, heading toward the school. She smiled; all of this was happening because of her. She felt like she was stronger than even a Contractor, it was great.

Of course, that all changed when she got home. Her mother as usual was in a grumpy mood, probably because she missed the deadline for her book again, and didn't greet Kiyoko as she walked through the door. Her father, luckily, was at work so she didn't have to worry about him.

Kiyoko sighed as she entered her room and flopped on the bed. She didn't even know why she went home in the first place; she was trapped here. Perhaps it was because she wanted to hear her mother's astonishment when she got the call that her daughter had provoked a fight and broke a girl's arm. It was all phony, though. It was Kei who had started it, Kiyoko merely finished it. She would of course be sent to another school, her fifth time in two years. Kiyoko looked over to the poster of her favorite band; Explode. They were a heavy metal band that used scream-o in their songs. Kiyoko often listened to them when she was angry about something, or just wanted her parents to back off.

"Ki-chan!" her mother called, interrupting her thoughts. The yell wasn't angry; the call must not have come yet.

"Coming!" Kiyoko called back before dragging herself off of her bed. She made her way downstairs and into the kitchen where her mom was 'getting dinner ready.' Reality: she was getting the ingredients and directions out for Kiyoko to cook herself.

"Hi dear," Mizuki gave a forced smile, "do you mind helping me with dinner?"

"Of course," Kiyoko said with the same fake smile, "you go and do whatever work you have to do, I'll get it ready."

"Really? Oh, honey, you're a life-saver!" Mizuki came and gave Kiyoko a hug before going back over to her study. Mizuki never seemed to have time to do anything but eat. She rarely even slept.

Kiyoko glared at her mother as she closed the door. "Oh, thanks, honey~!" she mocked in a high-pitched imitation of her mother's voice. "What a load of crap." She said in her normal voice as she turned to start dinner. In the past, her mother wouldn't let her do so much work, but those days seemed to be gone. Kiyoko had lost her mother to her work, and her father never did anything but watch TV when he wasn't working. Did they ever have any time for their only daughter? No, of course not. Kiyoko sighed. Thankfully, the dinner was easy. Chicken soup, corn, and baked potatoes; she didn't even need any directions for this one. Dinner was finished in just under an hour, and she set the table and laid the food out without bothering to ask her mom for help. She would receive nothing in that department.

"Mom, dinner!" she called. Without waiting, Kiyoko started slurping up her soup. It ran down her throat in warm, soothing trickles. Ah, yes, she was getting better by the day with all types of food. This was American, not her normal meal, but she needed practice. She had already practically mastered the Mandarin food that her family normally ate. She jumped with surprise as her father came around and sat at the head of the table. When did he come home?

"Kiyoko!" he scolded, taking her spoon and setting it down on the table. Kiyoko rolled her eyes, but patiently waited as her mother sat down. Takeshi bowed his head and murmured thanks, then started eating.

"Mm~ This is delicious, honey!" her mom commented. Kiyoko just grunted in acknowledgment, and got a warning glare from her father. She sighed but looked up.

"Thanks, mom." She said, then immediately went back to eating.

There was silence around the table. As usual, no one had anything to say. Kiyoko looked up for a moment to find her mom with one of those, "epiphany" moments. Her breath caught in her throat; she didn't need to have her mother ditch the table to write and leave the food for Kiyoko to take care of. As if called on queue, Mizuki's phone started ringing.

She sighed, "Probably my publisher wondering when I'm going to hand in my book…" She got up from the table and went to answer it in her office. Kiyoko sighed with relief, but didn't bother to eat anymore of her food. Instead, she resorted to messing around with it; she knew that call wasn't about the book.

"Are you going to eat?" Takeshi asked suddenly, "Because if not then you can start doing the dishes." He got up and turned to the TV. He of course couldn't abandon that luxury to clear the dishes, or do anything for that matter. Kiyoko sighed, what was the point of even having parents when she was the one who took care of all the housework? She stood and started clearing the dishes, waiting for the explosion that was bound to happen at any moment. As expected, once Takeshi flipped the power on, Mizuki finished the call.

"Kiyoko!" she screamed, coming out of the office. "What do you have to say for yourself?!"

"About what?" she asked innocently as she started rinsing her plate.

"Don't give me that crap!" Mizuki growled.

"Woah, woah," Takeshi interrupted, "What's going on?"

Mizuki turned to him. "Your daughter just provoked a fight on school campus and broke a girl's arm! They had to call an ambulance she was screaming and crying so much!"

Takeshi's face turned a cherry red. "You did what?!" he asked, getting off of the couch. Kiyoko had only seen that look a few times before; he was in a sheer rage. Kiyoko practically panicked, he hadn't looked like that because of something she did before, only on one of his business calls.

"Dad, I can explain-" she tried, but was cut short as her father's hand came down on her face. Kiyoko's head wrenched to the side with the force of the slap; and her eyes started watering from the sting that was leaping across her cheek. Kiyoko just stood there a moment; her dad had never once laid a hand on her. Mizuki was even simply standing by watching and acting as if nothing was wrong.

"I will not have a criminal scum in my house!" Takeshi continued to say, "You can pack your bags and go live on the streets with all the other juveniles!"

Kiyoko looked up at him, aghast, but turned and ran to her room. She slammed the door and locked it; diving onto her bed and burying her head into her pillow. What had happened to her father? He was once so kind… The tears started flowing; bringing guilt for the ride. She had truly never meant any wrong; she just didn't know what to do. Her parents were always fighting until early hours of the morning and she could never get to sleep. She also had to do everything around the house; she was taking care of herself.

Why? Why was it that her family was so dysfunctional now? They had once been so loving. They had been together for three years before Kiyoko was born and never had any problems. Kiyoko's heart skipped a beat. What if it was her fault that everything got this way? Her sorrow turned into pure anger. How could it truly be her fault when she was just a child? Her parents obviously blamed her, for she never got anything she wanted, and she always had to do all of the dirty work. Was she being punished for being born?

Kiyoko flew to her feet and started shoving things into her back pack; she couldn't deal with this anymore. In only a few minutes she had all of her stashed money and everything else she could possibly need. She was taking up Takeshi's offer; there was no reason for her to stay in this hell hole. Kiyoko stopped and looked at the picture on her desk. It was of her, Mizuki, and Takeshi when she was just a little girl. Her blonde hair and blue eyes matched her mother's, while she got most of her features from her father who was native to China. Kiyoko took the picture out ad tore it so that she was no longer in the photo. This was how it should have been; a happy couple with no worries about failures like herself. Kyoko slid out her window and hopped silently into the back yard. No regrets; that's all she could tell herself as she fled from the only place she knew.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Tatsuya

Kiyoko dove behind the garbage can that was in the middle of a dark alley, her heart was pounding in her chest from the threat. It was her third day out on her own, and the police seemed to be littering the streets. Whether they were looking specifically for her or not, they knew who she was. Kiyoko sighed as the patrol car passed without seeing her. Though her clothes were tattered and stained, and her hair and face both had streaks of grit, her blonde hair gave everything away. She had almost been caught recently, she narrowly escaped through a sewer, and she brought the rotten smell of it with her.

Kiyoko pushed herself to her feet and once again entered the graffiti-riddled street. The sun was just setting; casting eerie shadows along the abandoned roads and ware houses, making it look even more dangerous than how Kiyoko first perceived it. Of course, the whole reason she came here was for the danger; she didn't want her first few days on the streets to be boring. She also had some pent-up anger that needed to be released, and she thought it better to hurt thugs rather than innocent people.

Kiyoko looked down at the rubble that used to be sidewalk; a small pebble had just rolled past her feet. She tensed, knowing that some one was behind her. How did she not notice before? Even her own feet were making a small _crunch _as she walked along the broken path. Well, however the person was doing it didn't matter, Kiyoko just had to have the upper hand. Without another moment to lose, she started running toward a more closed part of the down town street. She was small and could maneuver easily, and she had also learned how to use the walls and possible fencing to her advantage in battle.

Kiyoko glanced behind her and saw just a small flicker of shadow in pursuit; her plan was going to work. In just a few moments, the large ware houses melted away into squished, brick apartments; the perfect place. She glanced around to check the area and saw that there was only a couple people who surely wouldn't call the police if they saw the upcoming fight. She turned into the first narrow alley way that she could find, and quickly scaled the metal fire escape that hung on the left wall. To further hide her existence, she clasped her hand over her mouth to silence her heavy breathing. There was nothing left to do but wait.

The man following her did not disappoint, Kiyoko had only just stopped moving when he tip-toed into the alleyway. He had a normal build, and wasn't too tall. The only thing that made him menacing was the long scar that went from above his left eye down to his square chin and his homeless appearance. His eyes were dark and beady, watching for any sign of movement.

"Where are you, girly?" he sneered. "I know you cannot have gone too far…"

Kiyoko continued to stay hidden as the man faced a few wooden boxes that were thrown against the wall. He seemed to be taking his time, meandering slowly along as if relishing the fear he thought Kiyoko had. As he placed his hand on a box to lift it up, Kiyoko closed her eyes. _One… _she counted in her head as the man threw the first box. _Two… _The second box was thrown to the side, and the man was getting ready to turn over the third box. _Three! _Kiyoko's eyes flew open and she dropped down on top of the man.

Her hands found his rough neck, and she got ready to quickly snap his spinal cord, but she was thrown aside by some invisible force. Kiyoko gasped as she hit the ground and scraped her elbow and hand. Where had that blow come from? As she came to her senses after losing her breath, she looked up to see the man glaring down at her with a smug smile that was twisted due to the scar on his face.

"So you thought you could sneak up on me, huh? Never thought a puny human would ever do that, let alone a little girl."

_ Little girl. _The insult resonated throughout Kiyoko's mind. Too many times had she been called little; too many a day where she was told she couldn't do what she wanted because she was a girl. This time was the first in years she was insulted with such carelessness, and it did not sit well at all.

"I'm not a little girl!" she growled. In one swift movement, Kiyoko placed her hands behind her head and pushed off, driving her feet upward to connect with the man's face. This time she had timed it just right; he was knocked of his feet as she landed lightly on her toes. "I am seventeen and have mastered several types of martial arts, that makes me anything but little!" She walked over and placed her foot on the man's head before he had a chance to regain his feet, causing the blood that had started leaking out of his nose to smear. "Now, any last words, _little boy_?"

The man's face twisted in what looked at first to be pain which gave Kiyoko a leap of satisfaction, but her small joy faded as his face contorted into a twisted smile and he started laughing. The laugh was little more than a bubbling sound, which only seemed to make it more insulting. Kiyoko ground his face into the pavement.

"What are you laughing at, you piece of trash?!" she snarled.

"A girl is a girl no matter how many fancy tricks she's taught." He slurred around the pressure, "You're all so easily breakable; the ones that fight like you simply make my job more fun."

"You have a job of stalking innocent women?" Kiyoko snorted with a disgusted look. "You're a sick bastard."

"Am I?" the man asked. He smiled once again, and Kiyoko reached for the knife that she had hidden in her belt; she couldn't wait to teach the arrogant fool a lesson. Yet before her fingers could close around the handle of the blade, she was once again slammed aside by an invisible force, but this time it held her against the wall. Kiyoko coughed and tried to regain her breath, it once again felt as though something sucked out all of her air.

The man pushed himself to his feet with a sadistic smile, and wiped the blood and dirt from Kiyoko's shoe off of his face with a handkerchief that he kept in his pocket. Without a word he walked over to her and slid his hand around her waste. Kiyoko flinched, but calmed as the man simply grabbed the small knife she stowed. The man smiled as he looked over the blade.

"So delicate… It's the perfect tool for such a delicate job…" He traced the blade along Kiyoko's neck, causing her to suck in a breath. _He's crazy! _She thought. For, that look in his eyes led to anything but sanity. Kiyoko suddenly thought back to all her past memories. Going on roller coasters with her dad, making crafts and dancing with her mom at home, both Mizuki and Takeshi sitting at the table and laughing… Then the disappointment, small at first, but steadily growing as Kiyoko slipped father into her darkness. A small smile played across her lips.

"Go ahead," she said quietly, "No one will miss me."

The man made a _tut-tut _sound with his tongue. "Oh, no, that won't do. You need to fight, otherwise its no fun." He pressed the blade into her throat and a small drop of blood trickled down to her chest, but she hardly flinched. "I believe you're bluffing," the man breathed into her ear as he moved his head next to hers. His breath was fowl and it made Kiyoko want to cringe, but she deserved this death, she couldn't falter. "What happens when your death is so close that I can taste it?" he asked softly as he pushed the blade a little deeper into her skin.

Kiyoko closed her eyes to prevent any weakness from pushing to the surface of her emotions, she welcomed the death that was about to be dealt. The pain sharpened in her neck and she sucked in a sharp breath, but it didn't matter. She didn't expect her death to be merciful. Still, she couldn't help but want the man to get it over with.

"Now, now," he whispered, "This isn't the-" his airy voice abruptly stopped, causing Kiyoko to open her eyes in wonder. The man had turned around and his head was sweeping the alleyway, almost wildly. "Where are you?" he growled, "I know you're there!"

One of the shadows flickered as a figure stepped into the open. It was a boy, maybe twenty, who had surprisingly clean clothes with none of the torn material that he should have if he was in this part of the city. He had on black sneakers, blue jeans, a white T-shirt, and a black leather jacket that reminded Kiyoko of a motorcyclist. His hair was the same blonde as hers with bangs that fell sloppily over his face, but instead of blue his eyes were a rusty orange that seemed to captivate Kiyoko. She didn't like the feeling it gave her, as if there were a thousand butterflies dancing in her stomach. When was the last time she had that feeling? Certainly too long for her to remember.

"I'm sorry, am I interrupting something?" the boy asked with a melodic voice that only bothered Kiyoko more.

"As a matter of fact, you are. Get lost kid, or I'll have to use you as a punching bag." The man warned.

This made the boy smile. "Somehow I don't think the lady would agree." He looked at Kiyoko. "Would she?"

There were those eyes again, framed by his bright yellow hair. Kiyoko huffed and turned away with an irritated expression to hide the heat that she could feel rising to her cheeks. "Whatever…" she mumbled under her breath. What was up with that? The last thing she needed was to be attracted to some annoying brat who she just met.

The boy's attention turned back to the criminal. "Though she may be shy, I would take that as a no."

Kiyoko's eyes shot back to the boy. "Listen, kid, I'm not-" She silenced as her breath was pushed out of her again.

"Stop talking, wench!" then man growled, then released her bonds. Kiyoko dropped to the ground, coughing to get the air back into her lungs. She was barely able to comprehend what was taking place as the man glared at the boy.

"I warned you, kid," he snarled. The boy just smiled and waited for the man to attack. The man threw an invisible wave at him, and the boy side-stepped. Kiyoko's eyes widened as it passed the boy, ruffling his hair a bit, and crashed into the wall behind him. The power of whatever it was crushed that part of the brick wall into rubble that seemed to rain down behind the boy. What was that man? How could he attack without physically touching anything? The boy smiled as another wave was sent toward him. He side-stepped just as easily as last time and laughed, the sound of it soft and laced with quiet strength.

"I thought you'd be a much bigger challenge than this," he taunted the man, "Your skills aren't very developed." One of the man's veins bulged, and he opened his mouth, obviously to insult the boy, but his voice turned into a scream as a large flame suddenly engulfed him. Kiyoko's eyes widened as the man started burning right in front of her. She pushed herself up against the wall to get as far away from the smell of burning flesh as she could, yet she couldn't seem to take her eyes off of the man's face as the flesh started melting away. Was he still screaming? She couldn't tell- the sound of her heart beat was pounding in her ears like a throng of amplified drums.

Somehow, perhaps in her subconscious, she was aware of the boy taking out a cigarette and lighting it- with a normal lighter- then placing the cigarette on his arm. More burning. It seemed to be taking up Kiyoko's whole being. Would she perish the same way the man who tried to kill her? Even if she deserved it, she sure as hell wished it wouldn't happen. Another sound seeped through her ears, past the performance of the drum core. What was it? As two black sneakers stopped in front of her she was aware that the sound was of a person's shoes as they walked across the ground. The drums were immediately silenced, apparently along with the man's scream.

It took all of her will power to do it, but Kiyoko finally tore her gaze away from the tarred flesh that was in front of her and traveled up to the boy's face. Her heart started beating loudly again. What if she was this boy's next victim? Kiyoko had this sudden wish to run back to her home, but she couldn't turn away from the boy's gaze. There was something in that gaze that started calming her. It was strangely comforting and helped Kiyoko's heart rate to lower back to normal.

"We probably shouldn't stay here," the boy said as he held his hand out to her. Kiyoko looked at his hand and hesitated at first, but slowly reached out to grab it after she grabbed her knife that had fallen out of the man's hand. Once she had hold, the boy hauled her to her feet and pulled her close by the waist. Kiyoko's eyes widened.

"W-What are you doing?" she squeaked. She had never been held like this except by her father.

"Relax," the boy chuckled, "This is just going to be much faster than trying to run on the ground. Now hold on tight." Kiyoko obeyed as the boy took out a gun and aimed it at the roof of the building next to them. When he fired, instead of a bullet, a hook with a thick wire attached to it launched at the building. The hook snagged on the roof and the wire soon started rolling back into the gun, taking the boy and Kiyoko up with it. The boy hoisted Kiyoko on the roof first, climbing up and replacing the hook shot in his belt afterwards.

From the roof it was easy to see the streets and surrounding buildings of the city. Kiyoko's eyes traveled across the streets and alleys. Somehow, with the sun just sinking behind the horizon and the lights flickering on through the windows, the city actually looked beautiful. Even though she knew the whole of the city was pretty disgusting- both people and cleanliness wise.

"Can you run?" The boy asked Kiyoko who paused for a moment as her gaze traveled back to him. What was she supposed to answer to that? 'Uh, no I can't run, I forgot how to last week.' Somehow she didn't see the logic in the question.

"Of course I can, idiot," she huffed, "Can you?"

The boy smiled. "What a silly question."

"My point exactly!"

"Ah, well, I didn't just go through a very traumatic experience like you."

Kiyoko examined him for a second. He wasn't in the least bit freaked or disturbed; he must kill people like that on a regular basis. This might mean that he would do the same to her if she got on his bad side, but Kiyoko trusted herself not to venture across any such lines.

Kiyoko folded her arms. "I'm used to it. Worse things happen on TV all the time."

"Sure they do," he smirked, "But it doesn't matter, we should get going. The special forces will be here soon." Kiyoko nodded and turned to start running, but stopped as the boy grabbed her arm. "We should go this way; the forces are less likely to look there." He pointed uptown, the place Kiyoko was trying to avoid. She shook her head without a moment's thought.

"You can go there, but I'm going that way." Kiyoko pointed to an even more run-down part of the city, the first place the forces would be likely to look if they suspected murder, which they should.

The boy raised an eyebrow before asking, "Why would you want to go that way? Not only does it have many thugs, but it's the first place that the forces will look."

"So?" Kiyoko asked with defiance in her voice, "I can take care of myself."

"I'm guessing that's what you told yourself before you got this." The boy reached his hand up to Kiyoko's neck and wiped away some of the blood that was seeping out of the knife wound. Kiyoko pushed his hand back and turned away.

"That's none of your business," she muttered.

The boy sighed and looked over his shoulder as he heard the sound of approaching sirens. "Considering you were just witness to a Contractor's powers, it doesn't matter if it's my business to know or not. I haven't been caught by the forces yet and I wish it to remain that way. If they catch you and look into your memories then they will find out my identity, which is something I can't allow to happen. So if you choose to go the other way, then I will have no choice but to get rid of the evidence."

Kiyoko froze. Somehow that tone in his voice told her that he meant it. He would choose his life before hers, as would anyone in their right mind. While Kiyoko had been fine with letting the man kill her with a knife, the thought of being burned alive was too much to think about.

"Fine," Kiyoko said. Before the boy could say anything more she took off in the direction of the home she had run from. Thankfully the apartments were close enough together for Kiyoko to jump across, making the journey across the roofs go by much faster. As they were running, Kiyoko was aware of her breath gradually becoming shorter; she hadn't run this long for quite a while. As she landed on the roof of what seemed to be a bar, she stopped. Her breaths were coming out short and fast.

As the boy stopped beside her he smirked. "What's the matter? I thought you said you can run."

"Oh, shut it," Kiyoko growled, "I'm out of practice."

"Well, at least you made it this far. I actually parked my bike just a few blocks down from here." The boy went to the side of the roof and started climbing down the fire escape.

"What do you mean, 'At least I made it this far'?" Kiyoko growled as she followed him down. "Were you assuming that I was lying?"

"Well, not lying, but… How to put it? Being a bit too prideful?"

"What's wrong about pride?"

The boy stopped at the bottom to wait for Kiyoko. "Nothing, it's just that those with pride often exaggerate to make themselves look better."

Kiyoko glared at him as she got down. "And other people don't?" She folded her arms. "Whatever, it doesn't matter. I'm guessing your 'bike' is a motorcycle?"

"Of course, it's this way," the boy smiled and led the way to the bike. Kiyoko glanced around the area, noticing that it was the worse part of uptown. There were several bars in one block, and plenty of graffiti covering the walls. She found herself pulling closer to the boy as she realized the criminal-looking people that stared at them as they walked away.

"Why did you have to park your bike in this stupid place?" she whispered.

The boy chuckled. "Though it may not seem like it, this is one of the head quarters for my job."

"What job?" Kiyoko looked at him with curiosity.

"The one that gets me money," he responded. He turned to look at Kiyoko and smiled at her annoyed expression. His gaze suddenly focused on something behind Kiyoko and his smile disappeared. "Don't look to your left, and don't fight, ok?" he whispered.

"What do you mean don't-" Kiyoko cut off as the boy's hand slipped around her waist. She blushed as he pulled her closer to him as he continued walking. Her first reaction was to give him a hard punch to his face, but she stopped. Though she wasn't looking, she had a horrible feeling that someone was watching them with much more intensity than the other shady characters that littered the street. She let him guide her to his bike and tried not to look behind her at the person who was staring at them. The bike was black with metallic blue flames painted on the sides.

"No helmets?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Don't worry, I'm an excellent driver." He looked at her and smiled as he reached into a storage compartment and pulled out two helmets. "C'mon, I'm not that stupid."

"Could've fooled me," Kiyoko huffed. The boy chuckled and handed her one of the jet black helmets that matched the color and design of the bike. Once Kiyoko put hers on, she got on the bike behind the boy.

"Where do you live?" he asked.

"I, um…" Kiyoko looked away. "I don't exactly want to go to my house."

The boy nodded. "I understand." He started the engine and turned his head to her. "You're going to have to hold on if you don't want to fall you know."

Kiyoko glared at him, even though he couldn't see her eyes through the shades on the helmet. "Yeah, yeah, I know." She reached around his waist and hugged him to stay on the bike. She wasn't sure, but she thought he just had a bike instead of a car so that he could get girls to do this. She rolled her eyes, it would be completely typical. Kiyoko watched the buildings go by, gradually getting newer as the two sped through the streets. Good driver? This kid was as crazy as any motorcyclist- dipping and weaving in amongst cars, barely escaping being crushed. When they finally got to a red light, Kiyoko decided to ask the question she had been mulling over in her mind. "So who was it that you were so scared of?"

"Scared?" the boy laughed. "Scared is not the correct term. More like… wary."

"Alright then, who were you _wary_ about?"

The boy did not answer, and Kiyoko could imagine that smug smile on his face. "Alright, then, keep your secrets," she muttered as the light turned green. Kiyoko continued to watch the signs go by, wondering where they were going, when she saw her school. She froze, why was he taking her here? To add to her horror, he slowed and turned onto her street. _It couldn't be, he probably just lives close. He'll go right past my house and… _The thought disappeared as he stopped in front of her house.

"How the hell do you know where I live?" she asked as she got off the bike and shoved the helmet in his arms. He put it back calmly and flipped the shade of his helmet up.

"What do you mean? I was just dropping you off at some random-" He cut off as Kiyoko pulled out her dagger. She had a completely serious and deadly look which made him sigh. "I used to go to your school, remember? And I happen to have lived just a few blocks away. We used to walk home together before I moved."

Kiyoko paused, the memory of the boy flooding back to her. She gritted her teeth, but sheathed her dagger. "Whatever…" she looked him up and down, trying to recall his name.

"Tatsuya," he said before she could ask. "And you're Kiyoko," he smiled. "I'll be seeing you soon." He flipped the shade down and drove off, leaving Kiyoko in her confusion. The kid's name she walked home with wasn't Tatsuya… Was it? She sighed, it didn't matter. She turned to the light blue house that was riddled with weeds and chipping paint due to lack of TLC. The house she had just been thrown out of. She took a deep breath and walked to the door. She knocked lightly and waited, but there was no answer.

At first she thought her mom looked out and saw her, so ignored her, but there had been no sound inside the house even though one of the wood planks on the floor squeaked loudly with any small amount of pressure. Kiyoko tried to look through the windows, but the blinds were closed. Her brow furrowed. Where was her mom? She was always home all day. Kiyoko reached to the door knob and was surprised to find that it was unlocked.

"Hello? Mom?" she asked shyly. She stepped inside, flinching as the floor board screeched, and closed the door behind her. "Is anyone home?" There was still no answer. Kiyoko paused, a shiver going up her spine. Her house was never this silent, something was wrong. She ran for her mother's office and threw open the door. "Mom? Are you-" The questioned froze in Kiyoko's throat as she processed the scene in front of her. She could feel it; a scream rising in her throat as she fell to her knees. Why? Why was her life going so horribly wrong?

* * *

_Wow, that chapter is long. :3 As BlissWord mentioned I was a little lacking in description in my last chapter... I'm hoping that its better this time. :) Thanks again, Bliss~ And thank you those who have read my story, I love your faces. X3 Please review~_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Death and Transfiguration

Kiyoko fell to her knees, her scream of anguish and anger resonating through the house. She slammed her fists on the floor and closed her eyes; she couldn't bear to look at her disfigured parents anymore. Her mom was sitting at her work table with her head resting on the keyboard of her computer. Blood covered her body and the computer screen, hiding the book that she must have been working on. Her father lay facing the door, his eyes and mouth wide with a silent scream. He was also covered in his own blood.

Why? Why was Kiyoko's life going so horribly wrong? The only thing wrong her parents did was work all the time… Was it that they were killed as punishment for what Kiyoko did? Kiyoko shook her head, tears streaming down her face. She was going to apologize, she was going to become better and… she stopped sobbing and opened her eyes. That was a lie. No matter how hard she would have tried, her parents would still be the same.

Suddenly all of Kiyoko's emotions drained out of her. She didn't feel sorry for them, it was what they deserved. Although, she wished she could've dealt out the punishment instead of someone else. She gasped, coming back to her senses. What was she talking about? Kiyoko stumbled to her feet and backed out of the room, she couldn't stay there.

_'Why not? You should enjoy the terror on their faces after all they did to you.'_

Kiyoko's eyes widened as the foreign thought came into her mind. What was happening to her? No matter what her parents did, she wouldn't enjoy their death. And yet, the thought still rang freshly through her mind. Kiyoko gripped her head and closed her eyes.

"Get out, get out!" she willed, to no avail.

_'Kiyoko~' _the voice whispered, almost as if caressing her thoughts, _'you know that you don't want me to leave.'_

"Yes, I do!"

_ 'But you could become so much stronger with me.'_

Kiyoko suddenly felt a presence next to her and she jumped back, opening her eyes. She looked around with surprise- her house had disappeared. Replacing the familiar surroundings was a dead world that was various shades of only black and gray. The streets were deserted, all the plants were wilted, and the sky was even black. The stars gave off a fake, almost electrical light. Kiyoko's brow furrowed.

"Where did you take me?"she asked the voice that was in her head.

_'I didn't take you here, you did.'_

"Yeah, sure. And how did I do that?"

_ 'Though you may not want to believe it, you truly don't care whether your parents are dead or alive. You relish the fact that you are now free. With freedom comes power, and with power come lust for control. You have that lust, and you are willing to trade anything for that power.'_

"No! That's not true!" Kiyoko whirled to the left, her eyes scanning the streets and abandoned buildings that surrounded her. This voice couldn't be coming from her, who was the owner? "Show yourself!" Kiyoko called into the empty city. She waited, but nothing came. She narrowed her eyes and huffed, about to start walking away, but stopped as she felt a presence behind her.

_'…As you wish, I have come.'_

Kiyoko spun around, instinct pulling her into a battle-ready position, but she took a step back in surprise as she found herself looking at a perfect image of her as a child. Only, this one had cold, emotionless eyes. There was no shine to the blue iris, no emotional entity behind the long, normally beautiful eyelashes. The harshness, like a severe blizzard, tore away all the things Kiyoko normally saw in her self as good. Yet at the same time she was drawn to the clone. It was giving off a strong aura that Kiyoko was sure was raw power. Kiyoko's clone slowly reached its hand out and held it in front of her.

_ 'Take my hand,' _it said, _'and you will experience what it is like to be in control of everything. Of what you do, where you go, who you hang out with, who you should get rid of, and much, much more.'_

Kiyoko looked down at the hand. What this clone was offering was so tempting, but… _get rid of_? That sounded a little too ominous for her. She wasn't going to kill anyone, why would she need to do that?

_'Because it is the only way to get what you want in this world.' _The clone answered,_ 'You can try all you like but you know you won't make it without accessing your true power. And the only way to access it is if you take my hand and come with me. I can get rid of guilt and hurt, I can tear up the true sorrow that lies within your heart.'_

Kiyoko narrowed her eyes slightly. True sorrow? The only true sorrow she had was that her parents were gone, along with the one chance she had of living a normal, happy life. Then again, the pain was great; it would be nice if she could take it all away. All the hurtful words, guilty feelings, past mistakes… And this power the clone was talking about. Could she really become so strong?

Kiyoko's memory flashed back to the man who had attacked her earlier and the invisible waves he had used to trap her. Then there was Tatsuya. He could burn a man alive without breaking a sweat. What would her power be if she accepted the clone's offer?

Kiyoko slowly reached out to take the clone's hand.

_'Yes, that's right; I will make your world infinitely better. All you have to do is trust me.'_

Kiyoko reached farther, her hand coming within a few inches of the clone's, but she paused. A sudden memory of Tatsuya taking a lit cigarette and burning himself with it flashed in her mind. She pulled her hand back slightly. Where had that image come from? Ignoring it, she reached out again, making the clone smile.

_'Yes, Kiyoko, I am a friend.'_

_\ _Kiyoko's brow furrowed. Why did the clone think it needed to baby her with such words? Was it worried about something? Her moment of doubt sent the memory of Tatsuya holding the cigarette to his arm again. Kiyoko froze and her doubt grew. Tatsuya didn't seem at all like the type who would scar himself because he wanted to…

_"All things come with a price."_

Kiyoko's eyes widened. That wasn't the clone speaking, who was it? She turned her head to the side and started surveying the city.

_'Kiyoko, what are you looking at?'_

She turned back to the clone. "I was just-" she stopped. The clone was smiling, but its eyes remained emotionless. Would she be like that if she accepted the offer? The clone's eyes flared to life. It seemed to know her every thought and feeling. Kiyoko took a step back. That wasn't possible, how could something so lifeless brighten with such sudden intensity? Something was wrong.

_"That is what a Contractor is like, Kiyoko."_

Kiyoko took another step back and swiveled her head. This voice was just like the clone. No appearance, only a sound. She didn't really trust sounds any more.

_"Come, Kiyoko, I am here, you must seek me out."_

_ 'No, that would not be wise, she lies.' The clone growled._

_ "It is not I, but you who lies. You are a dark star with only dark intentions, and I cannot let you hurt my daughter or take away her emotions."_

Daughter? Kiyoko turned again, trying to find the other voice. "Is that you, mom?" she asked with a sudden lightness to her voice.

_"Yes, Kiyoko, you must come to me. The one you are with is an emotionless part of you that is only but an inkling of who you truly are." _

_ 'No! Don't listen, Kiyoko, I am your only hope!' _Kiyoko could hear the desperation, and she started turning away from it. Desperation didn't always lead to smart decisions, and this was probably just something to do to get closer to what it wanted. Desperation was weakness.

_'Don't you turn away from me!' _The clone screamed at the top of its lungs.

Kiyoko looked back at the clone and gasped as it leapt forward, its appearance morphing in mid-air. The face stretched into a long, black snout, and the blue eyes swirled into a blood red. The body structure became larger, almost wolf-like, but kept most humanly qualities. The muscles bulged and black fur sprouted from the skin, engulfing it. Kiyoko turned and started running as the creature landed heavily on the pavement.

"Mom?! Where are you?!" she shouted, hoping to be able to pinpoint the location of her mother. No answer. Kiyoko glanced behind her; the beast was clumsily slapping its paws down on the ground as it ran. Its sense of direction was contorted. Perhaps she could use that to her advantage. She made a sharp turn down a street and followed with another turn into a cramped alley way. The beast was definitely too big to fit here.

But it didn't need to fit, Kiyoko realized as there was a large crash: the sound of a wall being torn apart. The monster was strong enough to bring down any building in its path. Kiyoko's breaths were starting to come out short and strained; she couldn't run much longer. She glanced back to see that the beast was gaining again, and its balance seemed to be back in order; it was running in a relatively straight line.

"Dammit…" Kiyoko huffed as she turned her head back in the direction she was running. Her muscles were starting to scream from the forced run. Kiyoko had to get away; she was slowing down as the monster was speeding up. She slid into another passageway and was about to start running again when she realized she was about to face plant into a wall. She slowed to a halt and looked around; there were no exits except for the one she came from.

Kiyoko turned to face the beast at the entrance. As it slowly started coming forward, Kiyoko backed into the wall, her heart beat rising higher than even the pounding beat from the run. The beast was just like the man, slowly coming towards her, taking its time to raise her terror. Kiyoko swallowed and started to force her breathing to become slower.

_One… _she counted mentally to focus her mind elsewhere.

_Two… _The demon was closer, its pace was sill a slow ramble.

_Three… _Kiyoko was aware of an image of a woman forming in her mind.

"_Kiyoko, you must find the strength within."_

_Four…_

"_Everyone has it, they just ignore it."_

_Five… _The demon was almost upon her now.

"_You mustn't ignore your true wish, your true desire."_

_Six… _What was her true wish?

_Seven… _Was it revenge?

_Eight… _Or maybe for her parents to come back?

_Nine… _Either way, she could not be enveloped by something as evil as this beast who craved her soul.

_Ten! _When her heart was back down to the normal pace, she looked up into the face of the demon that was now in front of her.

"You think I'm scared of you?" she snarled, "Think again, demon!" Kiyoko pulled her fist back and slammed it into the wolf-like nose that was in front of her. The creature paused, then threw its head high in howling laughter.

_'Puny human. You are weak like all the others.'_ It turned his head down toward Kiyoko and bared its fangs. _'I will take your soul and bind it like all of the others.'_

Kiyoko clenched her fists, a shadow covering her eyes. "You are…" she gritted her teeth as her arms started shaking. "You are wrong!" she yelled, looking up. "If I'm so weak then how do you think I avoided listening to your lies? I am not weak; I am stronger than you could ever hope to be!"

The beast's smirk disappeared. A blue glow surrounded Kiyoko, the pupil of her eyes shined red.

_'What? You have not made a contract, how is this possible?'_

"My contract is none of your business!" Kiyoko smiled, her teeth growing into fangs.

_'So you do have a contract. But from where?' _The beast smiled, once again showing its fangs. _'No doubt from those meddlesome spirits who seek to keep you from me. No matter, I will have you. Just know this, Kiyoko, what you are about to change into is something much like how I am now. So who is it that truly understands you?"_

With that, the beast vanished. Kiyoko's eyes widened and snarled.

"Don't you run away from me you coward!" she howled. This anger… was it hers? She wasn't sure… about anything of the matter. She felt her anger growing, and her body changing with it. She dropped to her knees, pain overtaking her. She tried to cry out, but the only thing that came out of her throat was a howl. She felt her fingers become shorter and more connected, while her nails grew into large claws. Just like the clone, her face melted into the long snout of a wolf and her skin was covered with a thick blanket of black fur. Once the transformation was complete, exhaustion took Kiyoko. Her eyelids drooped heavily as she slumped to the floor. Her vision blurred for a moment, and when it focused again she was back in her house. It looked like a tornado went through it. Furniture was overturned, vases were broken, the mirror was shattered… As she slowly slipped into unconsciousness, she was aware of only one thing. She had, indeed, turned into a large black wolf.

* * *

_Well, this wasn't as long as the last one, but I still hope you all enjoyed. :) Please review~_


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Misaki Kirihara

Another red light; she seemed to be hitting all of them. Misaki tapped her finger against the wheel. Shouldn't they have cleared the streets for her by now? The light switched to green and she accelerated onto the freeway. With her sirens on she dipped and weaved through the cars at maximum speed. BK201 showed signs of action, and she was stuck here without any possible hope of catching him. Still, it didn't hurt to try.

As Misaki pulled off the freeway, she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She didn't need this right now; she was in the middle of driving. With a sigh, she reached into her pocket and checked the caller ID. It was her boss. She flipped the phone open and held it up to her ear.

"I told you, Boss, this is my case so I'm going!"

"Calm down, Kirihara, I just called to inform you that I'm sending more reinforcements."

"More? Why would I need any more?"

"There has been confirmation of a star that has just been born, BL913. It was active at the same site as BK201. Since its origin and power is unknown, I'm sending more of our men. Don't enter the site until they arrive."

"But, Boss, he'll-"

"No, Kirihara. Your safety is more important than the capture of BK201. Stay out- that's an order."

Kirihara growled as her boss hung up. She threw the phone on the passenger seat and turned her full attention back to driving. Like hell she'd wait outside. BK201 was a criminal at large and needed to be detained. She turned off her sirens as she passed a high school that was close to her destination. She pulled into a small neighborhood and drove slowly up to one of the houses. The house the Contractors were supposed to be in was small, and not very well kept. What would two contractors want at this place? She turned the car off and got out, not bothering to close the door. She was well aware of the other members of her team in the shadows trying not to alert the Contractors, but she ignored their sharp comments of surprise.

"Kirihara!" one of them hissed, "What are you doing?"

She looked at where the voice came from without blinking. The man, known as Yuusuke, sighed and came out of his hiding place.

"In that case, I'll be going with you."

Misaki nodded and pushed herself against the wall of the house with Yuusuke right behind. Her gun was raised to her chest as she kicked down the door. She pointed the gun in front of her as she ran in, but slowly lowered it as she realized no one was there. She bit her lip; as she had thought, BK201 had already left.

"You check there," she said quietly to Yuusuke and pointed to the back of the house. Once he was gone she started to search the rubble that was left over from what must have been the room's decor. She hadn't seen BK201 make this big of a mess before, it was most likely the other contractor. Misaki went to a mirror that broke and she shook her head. The last thing she needed was such a destructive Contractor to keep in check.

She turned to go to the kitchen, but before she had taken two steps she tripped and landed on the floor. There was a yelp that Misaki assumed came from the animal she tripped over, and she quickly pointed her gun at the beast when it jumped up. The animal at the end of her gun was a wolf-like dog with black fur and piercing blue eyes. The dog's eyes seemed to widen in recognition as it saw the gun, and it quickly jumped back. When its feet touched the ground it yelped again and stumbled to the side, then collapsed on the floor.

The dog started licking its paws and whining. Misaki saw the blood on its paw pads; it must've landed on the broken mirror shards that littered the floor. Misaki lowered her gun and pushed herself to her feet. There was no way this dog would be a threat, it would have attacked despite the shallow wounds. She walked over to it, but paused as she saw its ears go back on its head. The dog looked up and started backing up slowly, staring at Misaki's hand. Misaki looked down and realized the dog was scared of the gun; she would never catch it if she had it in her hand. She dropped the gun on the floor, and the dog's ears immediately went back to their straight-up position as it sat on its haunches. It tilted its head and stared at Misaki who folded her arms and studied it.

"You're a curious one, aren't you?" she asked. She was about to step forward to see if she could pet the dog, but stopped at the sound of footsteps and Yuusuke's voice.

"Kirihara!" he called, "You should probably come and look at this."

Misaki sighed and picked up her gun, then turned to follow him to the back of the house. He led her to a small room, and stood aside.

"I'm assuming these are the owners."

Misaki stepped into the room and found a woman slouched over a blood-covered computer. There was also a man on the floor with a silent scream that Misaki often found on BK201's victims, but there was another unfamiliar pool of blood surrounding the man. Her brow furrowed; it didn't make sense. BK201's power was that he was able to electrocute people, and there was no way someone could bleed from it. Did he use his powers on the other Contractor? She shook her head; there would be another body, BL913 was too inexperienced to escape. So why did BK201 use his powers? Misaki sighed and looked away from the bodies.

"Are these two the only ones that live here?" she asked Yuusuke who shook his head.

"Along with Mizuki and Takeshi, there is one daughter; Kiyoko. She was a candidate for a possible Contractor due to some issues she had at school. Since her body is not here, she's the top on the suspect list."

Misaki closed her eyes. "How old is the girl?"

"She's fifteen."

Misaki exhaled a breath that she didn't know she was holding. So many children now a days. So many who are so young with enough pain in their life to become a Contractor… Misaki opened her eyes and straightened.

"C'mon, there's nothing more we can do here, we have to leave them to the forensics."

Yuusuke nodded and saluted, then turned to follow Misaki as she left the room, but stopped as she froze in the doorway with surprise and stepped aside. Yuusuke gave her a questioning glance, then hurriedly did the same as she motioned to the large dog that was waiting outside. The dog walked over to the bodies and sniffed them, then sat down and lifted its head to the sky. Misaki was not surprise as a low, mournful cry escaped from its throat. This dog certainly took after its ancestors, and would very likely be too devastated to continue living without a "pack."

"Such a lonely sound…" Misaki mumbled as she continued walking out the door.

"W-wait up." Yuusuke said as he clumsily ran to catch up to her. "What are we supposed to do with a dog?"

"Send it to the pound, what else? Since its owners died, it's very likely that it will become hostile."

"Owners?" Yuusuke's brow furrowed. "The report said nothing about a dog…"

"If they found it on the street, there would be no record."

Yuusuke pierced his lips into a white line, but accepted the answer and continued to follow Misaki out of the house. They were greeted by a very irritated bunch of other officers. Misaki held her hand up for silence.

"Calm down, there's no danger, the Contractors have left." Without another word, she walked over to her car. She got in the front seat and closed the door, but didn't start driving. She didn't want to go back to the office with her report; her boss would surely have a lot of questions. She leaned her forehead on the wheel and closed her eyes; she didn't look forward to it.

Misaki jumped as there was a scratching on the window. She looked up to the blue eyes of the dog. She opened the door and looked at it with confusion. "How did you get past all of those officers?" The dog responded with a small bark.

"Kirihara!" Yuusuke came stumbling up to the car and grabbed the dog. "Sorry, I lost track of it."

The dog wriggled out of Yuusuke's grasp and pranced away, stopping within ten feet of him. Yuusuke growled and tried to grab it, but it dodged and pranced away again. Misaki smirked, and Yuusuke tried again, falling over this time. Misaki laughed quietly as the dog barked and nipped at Yuusuke's heels.

"You're never going to catch it like that!" she called to Yuusuke, her face alight with amusment.

"Oh, yeah?" he asked as he stood up and folded his arms, "Then let's see you try it."

Misaki sighed, but undid her seatbelt and got out of the car. She crouched down and whistled as she held her hand out. The dog's ears instantly perked up, and it walked over to her. Once it was there, it licked her hand once and sat down, its tongue lolling out of its mouth. Misaki slowly reached her hand out and started petting the dog on the head. The dog just sat there, and Misaki traveled down to its neck. Before she could grab onto the dog's ruff, it jumped and pushed Misaki onto her back with a small yip. Misaki grunted and glared first at the dog, then at Yuusuke who started laughing. She turned her head back to the dog with an annoyed expression.

"You done?"

The dog responded by giving her a big, slobbery lick on her face. Misaki quickly pushed it off and rubbed her face.

"Eew, gross!" She stood up and looked at Yuusuke who was now laughing even harder. "I don't have time to catch the mutt, you figure it out!" She turned around to get in her car but stopped as she saw the dog standing on the passenger seat. "Oh, no." She went around to the passenger side of the car and opened the door. "Out." She pointed away from her car. The dog shook its head as if to say, 'No! I don't like that man!' then sat down. Misaki sighed, "I can't have you being defiant; I need to get back to my office."

Misaki reached forward and tried to shove the dog out of the car, but it did not budge. Instead, it grabbed onto Misaki's sleeve and pulled her toward the seat. Misaki yelped with surprise as she lost balance and fell forward. "Hey!" she protested. The dog just yipped happily as if laughing at her. Misaki glared at it and pushed herself to her feet. "Alright, fine. I'll let you stay with me until I can find a place in the pound for you, then you will go, all right?"

The dog sneezed and shook its head, and Misaki closed the door. Yuusuke looked at her with confusion as she came around the car.

"Are you keeping it?" he asked.

Misaki shook her head as she got in the car. "I'll keep it for the night, but I'll have to take it to the pound, I can't take care of it."

Yuusuke nodded. "Alright, just don't name it, or you'll get attached." He smiled, "See you, Kirihara." He closed the door and Misaki started the car.

As she started driving, she glanced at the dog who seemed to be reading the signs as they passed by. This dog almost looked as though it could be human. Misaki huffed and turned her eyes back to the road. What a ridiculous notion… Yet she couldn't help but want to speak to the dog to see its reaction.

"So what are you looking at?" she asked. The dog looked at her and tilted its head. Misaki glanced at its confused expression, trying to make something out of it. "Are you wondering where we're going?" The dog barked, surprising Misaki a bit. "I… guess that's a yes, then. I'm going to go to my office to turn in my report, and then I'll be going home. But you're not staying, once its morning I'm taking you to the pound, got it?" The dog whined and lightly pawed Misaki who shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I don't have the time or money to take care of you." The dog whined again and looked at her with a mournful expression. "It's nonnegotiable," Misaki said curtly. The dog sniffed, but turned back to the road. After twenty minutes of silence in the car, Misaki pulled into a parking lot in front of a large business looking building with "Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department," in big white letters on it.

"Well, here it is," Misaki said as she parked. "I know it's not a police-looking building, other than the name, but our organization's true purpose is actually kept secret from the general public." The dog's ears pricked up and its eyes turned to Misaki, who returned the gaze. "Don't look at me like that; it makes me think you're going to tell someone. This is a secret, alright?" She switched off the car and retracted the keys from the ignition. She opened the door and got out, but before she could close the door to leave, the dog leaped out.

"Hey!" Misaki put her hands on her hips. "Get back in," she ordered, but the dog just sat down on the spot. "You can't come; it's against the rules of the office to let you in there!" The dog gave her a look that seemed to say something like, 'Rules are meant to be broken.' Misaki gave an exasperated sigh. "Alright, fine. But you'd better stay with me and out of trouble." She closed the door and walked toward the entrance of the large building. On the way she shook her head. "I can't believe that I'm talking to you like you can understand." She looked down at the dog who was happily trotting next to her. It looked up, the depth in its eyes so much different from anything that Misaki had ever seen. She shook her head agian; it must be a fluke. She was surely just imagining it.

Upon entering the building, Misaki was well aware of all the eyes on her and the dog. She continued walking with absolute certainty, discouraging all who thought of saying something to her. As she turned a corner to get to the elevator, the liaison officer of Misaki's section, Mayu, waved from the hallway ahead.

"Kirihara!" the young woman called; Misaki continued walking past her. The girl huffed and quickly ran to catch up. "Kirihara, there's something I need to talk to you about."

"Not now, I'm busy," was Misaki's reply as she came up to the elevator.

"But you always say that."

"And it's because I am. Sorry, but it'll have to wait."

"Yet you have enough time for a mutt?"

Misaki stared at her with an annoyed expression. "It's not a mutt, and certain inevitable events passed that forced me to watch it for a few days, that's it." The elevator doors slid open, and Misaki looked away from the rookie. "Good-bye, Mayu." She stepped in the elevator and pushed one of the buttons. Once the elevator started moving she sighed. "Even the office is becoming a nuisance." The dog yipped and nudged Misaki with her nose. "I'm fine," she said, "just tired of continuously failing to bring in any Contractors." The dog tilted its head for a few seconds, then looked away as the elevator door slid open again.

Misaki straightened and stepped off. She walked to a door with the name "Horai, Yoshimitsu" and knocked lightly. On the other side of the door there was a sharp, "Enter," from a deep voice. Misaki took a deep breath and stepped in, with the dog on her heels.

"I'm here to file my report, Sir," she said, holding out a manila folder. Horai nodded and took the file. He flipped through it slowly and looked up with an irritated expression.

"So you ignored orders and once again entered without waiting for back-up?"

"Sir, I-"

"No, Kirihara, no excuses. You wasted time and perfectly good resources; they will less likely allow me to send anyone to help you if you keep this up."

Kirihara raised an eyebrow. "Who's 'they'?"

"You will be suspended for the next week," Horai said, dismissing the question.

"What? But Sir, I'm so close to-"

"I don't care how close you are, Kirihara," his voice rose a little, "This is for the best of the Section."

"Sir, you know I normally wouldn't persist this much, but-"

"I said no!"

The dog all of a sudden gave a few loud barks and started growling, causing both of the arguing cops look over at it. The fur along its back was raised, its fangs were bared viciously, and its muscles were tensed. It seemed to be glaring down Horai for raising his voice toward Misaki.

"Kirihara, what is that dog doing here?" Horai asked, turning his attention back to her.

"Well, Sir, this is the dog I found at the crime scene, it sort of attached itself to me and won't leave my side."

"I see, well, tell it to calm down, I can't have this going in any wrong directions."

Misaki knew very well of the gun her boss kept in his desk, and he would certainly use it if the dog attacked. Misaki snapped and gave a sharp whistle. The dog stopped growling and glanced over, but kept the fur on its back up. Misaki narrowed her eyes in a warning glance and pointed toward the ground. The dog paused for a few seconds, but reluctantly let its fur fall back to its normal position and sat down.

"Sorry about that, it won't happen again."

Horai nodded and looked from Misaki to the dog with interest. "Are you going to keep her?"

"No, I'm taking it- or…her- to the pound tomorrow."

"I see… That's too bad."

"Sir?" Misaki asked, not understanding what his point was.

"I just thought that you were going to keep her, she seems to be able to understand you despite the lack of exchanging words between the two of you."

Misaki looked down at the dog. She hadn't really noticed it before, but she did seem to understand everything that she said, and she often listened to her commands. But that didn't mean anything. "I think she's just well trained."

Horai nodded, "I suppose…" he waved his hand in dismissal. "Go get some rest. Though you're band from field work, you still have a lot of paperwork."

Kirihara saluted. "Sir!" she turned and exited the office with the dog in pursuit. Misaki once again avoided Mayu; she was going to take up the offer to get some rest. Though she normally had a hard time _not _staying late for work, this was a different story. The drive to her small apartment was quiet, as Misaki felt no need to say anything. Once they arrived, the dog jumped out and started inspecting everything. Misaki gave a small smile as it pranced around the yard with the curiosity of a new-born puppy before catching herself and turning away. She couldn't allow herself to get attached, the dog needed to go in the morning.

"C'mon!" she called as she climbed the stairs that led to her front door. The dog obediently followed and waited as Misaki unlocked the door. Once inside, it once again began inspecting everything. Misaki closed the door and looked around before walking into her bedroom. Great, where was the dog going to sleep? If she were outside, something would surely happen to her, but Misaki was not giving up her bed, nor would she allow her to-

"Hey!" Misaki protested as the dog leaped onto her bed. "That's where I'm sleeping, you can sleep on the floor; I don't care if it's uncomfortable!"

The dog yipped before plopping itself on top of Misaki's pillow. Misaki groaned and placed her fingers to her forehead. This dog was like one of those teenagers going through the stage of, 'I get everything I want, so suck it up and deal.'

"Listen, that's my bed, so I'm sleeping there even if I have to drag you away and chain you to the opposite side of the room. You can either sleep on the floor, or I will take you to the pound right away. Got it?"

The dog sighed and reluctantly dragged itself to the floor and curled up with slowly. She looked up at Misaki with round eyes, and gave a small whine. Misaki's eyebrow twitched and she turned to her closet to grab her night gown. Why did she have a feeling she wouldn't be able to get rid of this dog? Once she was changed, Misaki switched off the light and sunk down into her mattress without bothering to pull the sheet over her. She closed her eyes, and as she was about to fall asleep she felt a small shift and heard the sound of paws hitting the bedsheets.

"What are you doing?" Misaki growled as she turned to look at the dog with her eyes half opened. The dog seemed to smirk as it nuzzled up against Misaki and curled into a tight ball of fur. Misaki sighed and closed her eyes; she was too tired to move the dog, and it was actually quite comforting…

* * *

Is she asleep? Kiyoko looked over at this 'Misaki Kirihara' whom she decided to tag along with. She had been saying she would send her to the pound; yeah, right. Not in a million years. She would have to make Kirihara become attached to her, and if that didn't work she would certainly run. This whole thing was a little crazy, though, why did she turn into a wolf in the first place? And how would she turn back? Questions that she hoped could be answered by other Contractors. Since Kirihara seemed to make a living out of capturing Contractors, it seemed to be the easiest way to find them.

There was also something about Kirihara. The way her boss had yelled at her; it ticked Kiyoko off. All she could see was her father before his hand made contact with her cheek. She had reacted on impulse because she hated over-controlling people like that. If Kirihara had to work with this man every day, she couldn't be much different from herself, right? Kiyoko sighed and closed her eyes. Whatever, it didn't matter. As soon as she could find out a way to turn back into a human, she was leaving. She had to ask that Tatsuya if he had anything to do with this, he was _way _too suspicious for her liking. Besides, if she was lucky, he would lead her to the person who killed her parents. She could almost feel their flesh tearing in her fangs… Kiyoko blinked her eyes open in surprise. Now she was thinking like a wolf, that's just wonderful. Whatever happened, she had to turn back before she forgot how to even be a human.

* * *

_Finally! I finished. I haven't been working on it as much as I would like... I blame my XBox. XD Anywho, hope you enjoyed, and please review~_

_-BlackSun  
_


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Not on My Watch!

Misaki looked around with confusion. Where was she? There was a café, a clothing store, gaming stores, and the streets were overly crowded… This was a mall that Misaki had never been to before. She tried to stop one of the passing people, but her hand passed right through their shoulder. What was this? She continued to search with her eyes for something- anything- that would tell her where she was. There was no name, at least not a visible one. And the streets were too far away for her to read. The design on the stores had nothing special or different about them, they were the same brick layouts with glass windows and hundreds of completely different items to buy that were in all malls.

As Misaki started to walk around, she noticed a commotion in the food court. She made her way over, curious to see what it was. A large crowd had circled around something; most of them seemed to be teenagers. Misaki walked through the people, literally, and found a young girl- maybe thirteen- with blond hair and blue eyes. The girl was wearing torn up denim jeans, a white tank top, and a loose, red flannel. She had her fists balled and was glaring at a large boy who was also in the middle of the circle. Though he was tall, he was no older than the girl, and he didn't seem to have any obvious muscle. But still, there was no way this girl could win this.

Win this? Misaki felt like she was betting on some horse race, this was a fight and it needed to be stopped. She took a step forward and was about to say something, but her voice caught in her throat; she could make no sound. It was then that she realized that she wasn't actually touching the floor, but instead floating a few inches above it. This _had _to be a dream. But of what? She had never had any dream like this before…

Misaki's thoughts were interrupted as a large roar came from the crowd. She looked up to see that the fight had begun. Where were the security guards? They shouldn't be allowing this to happen. Yet, there were none in sight. The young girl started off by throwing a punch to the boy's gut, but he side-stepped and pushed her. It wasn't enough to send her to the ground, which seemed to make her furious.

"What's the matter?" she screamed, "Afraid to hit a girl because you'll get in trouble with your mommy and daddy?"

The boy scowled. "No, I just don't see a point in trying to beat you. You're a girl and you have no possible way of finishing this fight on your own, you just need to find that out for yourself."

"So I can't win because I'm not a boy? I bet you wouldn't be saying that if you were fighting a boy that was my same size and strength!" Without waiting for an answer, the girl started jabbing at him. The boy seemed to be dodging or blocking all of them, but he soon doubled over with a grunt of surprise as the girl spun and dug her foot into his gut. "Oops, my mistake. I'm a girl so I shouldn't be doing stuff like that, right?"

This time the boy could not hold back his rage. He straightened and pulled his fist back to give the girl a sharp blow, but found himself catching air. The girl had again spun, this time to dodge, and she ended so that she was behind him. Before he could recover, the girl kicked him in the back of his knee so that his leg collapsed and he was kneeling on the floor. The girl then quickly stepped in front of him and flung her fist, making contact with his jaw. Though the blow couldn't have been too hard, due to her size, the boy flew onto his back and coughed, spitting out blood as well as a tooth. The girl seemed to know exactly how and where to send a blow to cause the most damage. Who was she?

The vision of the dream started to blur, the shouts and jeers of the crowd drowned out and turned into the obnoxious _BEEP BEEP BEEP _of Misaki's alarm clock. She turned and slapped her hand down on the snooze button to go back to sleep, but as soon as she closed her eyes, something landed heavily on top of her. She let out a gasp in surprise and turned to throw her attacker off, but got a handful of black fur. What in the world was that? It was then that she remembered the dog from the crime scene yesterday. Misaki growled and pushed the dog aside.

"Can't you at least let me sleep in for five more minutes?" she asked with irritation lacing her voice. She looked at the clock. 10:30… "Ten-thirty?!" Misaki sat upright and threw the covers off of her. "How the hell did I sleep in this late? My alarm is set for six!" She furiously grabbed her normal blue suit and dashed into the bathroom. She took a quick shower to freshen up, pulled her clothes on, and threw her hair into a simple ponytail. Never before had she slept through her alarm for so long. At the worst, she woke at 6:15, no later than. As she grabbed her glasses and placed them on her nose, a crazy thought crossed her mind. What if it was the dog? This was the first time it had slept in her house.

Misaki made her way to the kitchen and threw some toast into the toaster as she shook her head. Crazy, exactly as she originally thought, it was crazy. There was no possible way that happened, she was tired, that's all. She needed the rest so she slept in. She had been working too hard; there was simply no other explanation. She growled as the toast popped up. Why was she trying so hard to convince herself of something so irrational? That dog had no way of- she gasped. The dog! It was almost eleven and the pound closed early that day. It would take a half hour at least to get there, if the traffic wasn't bad. Misaki quickly slathered on some butter and turned to get the dog, but found it was already there, looking up at her with big, round eyes.

"What?" she asked. The dog's eyes moved toward the toast, then slid quickly back to Misaki. "Oh, you're hungry. You'll have to get food at the pound, I have nothing for you. Now come on, we're late." She turned toward the door, but before she got there she heard the fridge pop open. She turned and gaped at the dog who had grabbed the meat out of one of the drawers. "Hey, bad dog!" she walked over and snatched the meat away. "This is people food, you don't eat people food." She put the meat back and closed the fridge, and by the time she turned around the dog had opened the cabinet and grabbed a small package of beef jerky. "Aargh, I said no!" Misaki tried to grab it, but the dog jumped to the side. "You know what? Fine. We're late, and I don't have time for this, let's go."

She opened the front door and watched as the dog trotted happily out of the apartment. Misaki closed and locked the door, mumbling curses to herself. This dog was too smart to be just a dog, it was probably experimented on by scientists, or maybe it wasn't a dog. Then again, she had often seen videos of other dogs doing even more complicated things. She opened the car door and slid into her seat after the dog had crossed over to the passenger side. Once they were on the road, Misaki sat nibbling on her toast in deep thought. This dog had caused her to be late for work, and she was already on the no good list. She wondered what the Boss would say this time. Bah, why dwell on that? She really didn't want to know. Maybe she should call in sick? No, that was completely against her work morals, and if she were going to be the next leader of Section 4, there was no way she could let herself do that. What kind of example would she be setting for her co-workers?

Misaki looked over at the dog who was licking its lips. Man, it ate that up in a hurry. And the bag surprisingly wasn't ripped, but opened at the zip lock part of it. This dog was the strangest thing in the world. Where it got its brains, Misaki didn't know nor did she care to find out. The dog all of a sudden gave a series of panicked barks, causing Misaki's gaze to sharpen on the dog's face and follow its eyes to the road in front of her. A gasp escaped her lips as she realized she was about to crash. She, thankfully, was on the far right side of the road, and as she spun the wheel hard to the right, she swerved off the freeway into the grass that was next to it. Misaki sat there, breathing heavily as she watched the truck she almost ran into disappear around a bend in the road. She slowly turned to look at the dog who had concern written on its face.

"You… you saved…" she stopped. The dog was the whole reason she was distracted in the first place. But still, if it weren't for the dog... She shook her head and quickly pulled back onto the freeway. No matter what this dog did, there was no way she could keep it. Her work was a priority, and she needed the money she had to survive, and she couldn't do so with such a large dog always demanding food. Misaki soon heard a chomping sound and looked over to see the dog eating the last remains of her toast.

"Hey! Give that back!" she tried to grab it, but the dog snatched it away. Misaki scowled at herself; she dropped the toast and let the dog eat it. That's exactly why it had to go, it was too mischievous for its own good. She again reached for the toast, but stopped as the dog quickly gulped up the last bite. "You brat," Misaki murmured under her breath as she turned her attention back to the road. Within just a few more minutes, Misaki turned off the freeway to a sort of abandoned looking place. '_Proof of how well the animals are treated here,' _she thought. '_Maybe this wasn't such a good idea…' _She shook her head and pulled up to the pound. What choice did she have? The pound was unkempt, the white paint peeling of its walls. The sounds of barking dogs, screeching birds, and yowling cats echoed across the area. Behind the main building was a series of metal fences which Misaki assumed the dogs were kept in. Even though her windows were all rolled up, Misaki could smell the hardened feces that had failed to be cleaned. Even if it meant putting the dog in these conditions, she had to leave her. There was simply no way she could take care of her.

Misaki pulled into one of the open spots and unbuckled her seatbelt. The dog gave a confused whine, and Misaki had to turn her head away. "Don't talk to me like that, I already told you it was going to happen whether you like it or not." She opened the door and lifted herself from her seat. She held the door open and waited, but the dog did not get up. Misaki sighed and went around to the other door. She opened it and bent down so that she was eye level with the dog. "Come… Now." Still, the dog stayed in its spot. Misaki growled and grabbed onto the back of its neck. "You are coming, now let's go!" the dog barked and pulled back with all its strength, heaving Misaki forward a bit. "Oh, no you don't. Not on my watch!" Misaki pulled with all her might, forcing the dog out of the car. Still holding onto the dog so it wouldn't run away, she quickly closed the door. "Alright, now don't make this any harder!"

Misaki tried to pull the dog toward the building, but it sat on its haunches and pulled away from her with just as much strength. Misaki then went around and tried to push the dog forward. "C'mon, get moving!" This time she was able to move the dog- slowly- to the entrance of the building. When she got there, she noticed a white sheet of paper attached to the door. At first she ignored it and tried to open the door, but when it wouldn't budge, she let her eyes wander over the bold, black letters. It read:

"**So sorry for the inconvenience, but we have closed early for the day and will be unable to remain open all week. The animals are being moved to another area and we must have all the open hands help us with the move.**

**-Tokyo Animal Authorities**"

"All week?!" Misaki fumed, letting go of the dog in the process. She started pacing with one hand on her hip and the other pressed to her forehead. "I can't keep this thing until Monday, she'll probably eat me out of house and home!" the dog simply yipped and pranced back to the car. Misaki turned to look at it and was surprised to see that its expression seemed to have the exact same one as Misaki had earlier. It seemed to be replying right back at her, 'I told you, not on my watch!' Misaki drew in a deep breath and closed her eyes. _Calm down, Kirihara, you can do this. So you have to take care of a dog for a week, big deal! You could put her in boarding if you have to… No wait, you don't have money for that. In any case, this dog will listen to you and you will be able to control it until the time comes to take it back. _Misaki opened her eyes and straightened before walking back to the car. "You got lucky," she murmured to the dog, "so if you try to do anything I tell you not to, or misbehave in any way, there will be consequences."

* * *

Misaki sat in her desk, tapping the pen she was supposed to be using to fill out the paperwork with on the table. After a brief scolding about not only bringing the dog to work but being late, Horai had handed a whole stack of ever so interesting paper work. Though she normally didn't care much about it- paperwork wasn't normally time-consuming- the fact that she had this much simply discouraged her. She normally had maybe five or ten pages to fill out, which wasn't all that bad, but now she was stuck with a whopping three hundred. Joy. She hoped she didn't have to finish by the end of the day, because at the pace she was going there was absolutely no way. She sighed and looked down at the papers, finally deciding to focus.

Within only twenty minutes of flipping through case files and filling out the necessary information, Misaki was aware of the ever restless dog that was pacing around the small room. At first she ignored it, but when the dog started whining and occasionally scratching at the door, Misaki couldn't handle it. She slammed her hands down on the desk and scooted her chair backwards. "Alright, since you clearly need some fresh air," she walked over to the door and opened it, "how about you familiarize yourself with the building to keep yourself busy? _Don't _get in trouble or I _will _chain you to the desk, understand?"

The dog barked and trotted happily out of the office. Misaki sighed as she closed the door and sunk down into her seat. Now, with luck, she might actually be able to concentrate. But of course, she had no such luck. The second she got into a focused mode, there was a quiet knock on her door. She took a deep breath before saying in as kind of a tone as she could, "Come in." To her surprise, it was Mayu who walked in. "Oh, Mayu, hi. What is it that you need?"

Mayu closed the door behind her before speaking. "Well, you see, I meant to tell you yesterday, but you sort of ran off without giving me the chance."

Misaki nodded. "I'm sorry about that. Well, I have all the time in the world now, so fire away."

"I'd rather not say, it's complicated, but," she handed Misaki a manila folder, "this pretty much sums it up."

Misaki took the folder and skimmed it, but stopped halfway through. Surely, she couldn't have read that right. She went back to the top and read more thoroughly. In the middle of the first page her eyes widened as she quickly stood. "What?!"

* * *

_Muahaha, suspense! X3 Well, this might be the last update for a while... I am now officially juggling school with marching band and I have two free days a week, one of them still a school day, so I might not be able to find much time to write... Hopefully, though, that won't be the case. :)_

_On another note, I've labeled this story as Tragedy/Romance, but I haven't written a romance before and, as you can probably see, I'm having trouble fitting it in with the story. Its chapter 5 and no gushy scenes. XD So I'm debating whether or not to continue it as a romance. If you guys want any fluff, please review to tell me because that will most likely be what helps me make my final decision. Thanks. :D  
_

_-BlackSun_


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

A New Bond

Kiyoko trotted with curiosity through the hallways of Misaki's work. There were many people who stared at her with something close to disgust as she walked by. She really wanted to bite them. So what she was a wolf in a workplace where no animals were allowed? People are just getting stupider and stupider. Was this really the place that tracked down and captured Contractors? None of the people seemed able-bodied enough to even come close one of them. She was even doubtful about Misaki, but the way she carried herself gave her an air of authority and knowledge, which Kiyoko guessed was because she was the next in line to become the boss. Kiyoko was snapped from her thoughts when someone called out to her. She stopped and turned her head with her ears perked in the direction the voice came from.

"Hi, girl." the young man that was in front of Kiyoko knelt down and held his hand out. Though Kiyoko disliked being pet, she stepped forward and sniffed his hand, letting him scratch behind her ears. The man was hardly older than twenty-five and had short, choppy, almost golden hair. He wore a brown leather jacket that immediately declared his hot-headedness, and a black shirt with jeans. He was the only one who didn't seem up-tight, as he was the only one without a business suit. He smiled and continued to ruffle up Kiyoko's fur.

"I hear you're Kirihara's new dog, eh?" Kiyoko's ears perked at the sound of the woman's name she was staying with. The boy smiled, "That answers that. Has she named you yet?" Kiyoko sniffed. Being a human trapped in a wolf's body wasn't all it cracked up to be. No, she was named by her parents, not some woman she decided to tag along with for the time being. Her name was Kiyoko, but she couldn't tell any of them that. For one, she would be hunted down and possibly killed, and she would loose her chance to learn how to turn back into a human. She was also a wolf, no matter how much she yowled her name at the top of her lungs, it would just sound like racket to anyone listening. The boy snickered. "I take that by your annoyed expression she hasn't, right?"

Before Kiyoko could try to answer, an older man walked up behind the boy. "Yutaka," the man said, "I thought I told you to deliver some papers." Kiyoko looked past "Yutaka" to the man she recognized as Saito. He was the one who had originally been trying to catch her at the crime scene. She couldn't help but smirk at the fact that she got away from an officer so easily. Yutaka sighed and got to his feet lazily.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm going. I just stopped to say hello to the dog."

"Dog?" Saito looked past him and frowned. "What is that thing doing here?"

"_She_," corrected Yutaka, "is Kirihara's new dog. Haven't you heard? It's not like she's being kept a secret. She was, after all, following Kirihara all over the HQ earlier today and yesterday."

Saito sighed. "Great, now I have another annoying brat to deal with."

"Another? Who's the first?"

"You, smart one. Now get moving and deliver those papers."

"Alright, alright," he held up his hands to ward off the irritation coming from the older officer, "I'm going, no need to be so pushy." With that he ruffled Kiyoko's fur one last time and left. Saito glared at Kiyoko and went back to what he had been doing before. Kiyoko stood and turned around with lightness in her step; she could tell annoying Saito was going to be the best part of going to Misaki's work everyday. Before Kiyoko could investigate any more of the building she heard footsteps rapidly coming toward her.

"Outta the way!" Misaki yelled to the people littering the hallway. Kiyoko tilted her head in confusion but immediately started chasing her as she passed by, curious as to what made her so worried. Within seconds they were out of the building and making their way to Misaki's car. Kiyoko jumped in as Misaki threw the door open and slammed it again once she was inside. She wasted no time turning the car on and strapping her seatbelt around her. Once they were on the road, she was driving as fast as she could without breaking the speed limit. Kiyoko looked at her face to see if she could read her emotions, and was surprised that it came like a sixth sense to her. Now she knew why dogs seemed to understand people so well.

The emotions written on Misaki's face were a bit confusing. Fear, anger, and most of all raw determination. What happened while Kiyoko was gone that made her like this? A few seconds later Misaki's phone started to buzz and she answered it without hesitation.

"Got anything new, Kanami?" she asked. Kiyoko instinctively waited for Misaki's voice again, as she couldn't normally hear the person on the other end of the phone, but blinked with surprise as the voice carried easily over to her. She wasn't used to this high of a level of hearing, but it certainly came in useful.

"Yes, three of the stars I mentioned earlier have passed off the grid, but the one from Russia is still using its powers for an unknown reason. It looks like he is moving toward Yoyogi Koen. If you hurry, you can catch him before he reaches his destination."

"Got it," Misaki closed her phone and spun the wheel to the left, bringing them down a dark side street. Within ten minutes, Misaki slowed and started scanning the side walk. One of the street lamps flickered from a glowing orange to black, causing the shadows on the ground to waiver. The clouds in front of the moon hindered its glow so that it was hard to see anything with human eyes that wasn't in the range of Misaki's headlights. Kiyoko was grateful for the night vision she was given in her wolf form. One of the shadows suddenly jumped in front of the car, causing Misaki to slam on her breaks. Another shadow soon followed, and Kiyoko guessed it was chasing the first.

Misaki wasted no time jumping out of the car with her gun in hand and pursuing the two people. Kiyoko closely followed, adrenaline pumping through her veins. She hadn't had a good fight for quite a few days, the anticipation of it sent her senses off the chart. Or was that because she was a wolf? Either way, Kiyoko's eyes were alight with excitement as she and Misaki chased the two shadows.

"Halt!" Misaki yelled, "Tokyo Police! Drop your guard and stop running!"

Neither of the figures listened to Misaki, but it seemed the one in front started running faster. _Why doesn't she shoot?_ Kiyoko thought with confusion. It then occurred to her that the lady on the other end of the phone said only one of the Contractors was heading this way; so the one in front must be a human running away. If Misaki shot at the Contractor she ran the risk of killing an innocent human, which would be unacceptable in her eyes. Kiyoko's strides started lengthening as she made up her mind, causing Misaki to fall behind. She would catch the Contractor before Misaki could kill him so that she could ask him the questions that had been at the back of her mind since she turned into a wolf. Even if her questions weren't answered, Misaki would be able to see how much of an asset she could be to the team and would certainly allow her to come on more of these missions; meaning more chances to ask questions.

Before Kiyoko had a chance to catch up, the two shadows turned a corner, and a heart-stopping scream filled the air, then was silenced as quickly as it had come. Kiyoko narrowed her eyes and slid around the corner. In a split second her gaze took in the scene before her. The faint moonlight accented the long, silver hair of the man dressed in black that was standing over what Kiyoko assumed to be the first shadow. It was a young woman that was seemingly harmless, but she had to have been killed for a reason. The man had black jeans and a black coat that draped like a cape down to his knees. The sleeves, however, were cut short at the elbow, and fingerless gloves covered his hands.

Kiyoko leapt into the air a few feet away from the man to tackle him. As expected, the man turned around before her hind paws left the ground, giving him time to put his arm up to block. Kiyoko opened her mouth and clamped her teeth down hard on the man's forearm, causing him to grunt in pain as he fell backwards. A growl rose in her throat as she stood atop the man whom she could now be sure was a Contractor. His yellow green eyes were absolutely stunning, even though there was a lack of emotion in them. It was just like the beast in Kiyoko's dream. It seemed the beast was a true Contractor, so how had Kiyoko turned into a wolf without its contract? Surely, she should have the same emotional drain on her face.

"Get off of me," the man said with irritation- no, something else Kiyoko couldn't decipher in his Russian accent. Kiyoko bit down harder into his arm, and drew blood. The man grimaced slightly and narrowed his eyes just as Misaki rounded the bend. "I know you're not just a wolf, now _get off_," he said hastily. Kiyoko didn't move, but waited for Misaki who was jogging toward them. Kiyoko could feel the surprise she was giving off and suspected that it was because she was holding the Contractor captive.

"Well, this is interesting," Misaki said as she stepped next to them, "A Contractor being held prisoner by a dog? How pathetic."

The Contractor glared at her, then turned back to Kiyoko. "Listen, I'm on your side, and I've been ordered not to hurt you. So could you kindly let go of my arm?"

Kiyoko's growl became louder in her throat and Misaki knelt down to put handcuff's on the man, but impaled herself on an invisible barrier.

"What?" she asked. It only took a moment for her to realize it was the Contractor's power, and she bit down on her lip. Kiyoko knew that she would somehow have to make this man stop using his powers if Misaki was to catch him.

"Listen, Kiyoko, I have us in a barrier and the girl cannot hear us. She also can't defend herself if I break the barrier into shards of glass and send them towards her. Just because I was ordered not to hurt you doesn't mean I can't take this woman's life."

Kiyoko stared at the man and her grip loosened ever so slightly. How did he know her name? And what does he mean "ordered"? Surely he had to be mistaking her for someone else... But then he would have called her some other name. The man took her moment of confusion as a chance and used his other hand to pry her fangs out of his skin, but Kiyoko fought back. The man gritted his teeth as his breathing became heavier; he couldn't hold the barrier in place for long, and he certainly couldn't use it to harm Misaki.

The man's frustration showed on his face as his barrier disappeared entirely. "I've already told you, haven't I? I'm not going to hurt you, so there's no reason for you to-" he fell silent as Misaki's gun appeared only inches from his face.

"You're not very experienced, are you?" she asked. "You're supposedly the best in Russia, could it be my colleague mistook you for someone else?"

The man paused, but put a fake smile on his face. "Though I am a Contractor, I have feelings for beasts such as this who cannot defend themselves."

Misaki snorted in disgust and knelt down next to him. She took out her handcuffs and latched one side onto the arm Kiyoko had hold of. Kiyoko let go and stood to the side as Misaki hauled the Contractor to his feet.

"Can I at least fulfill my contract before you tie me up completely?" he asked as Misaki was about to latch the other cuff to him. Misaki sighed, but stood back, her gun still pointed at his head.

"Make it quick."

The Contractor smirked and walked over to the dead woman's body. He turned her so that she was on her back and brushed his fingers across her eyes to close them. He then laid her hands on her chest and opened his jacket. Misaki's finger tensed on the trigger as he reached into the side pocket of the jacket. "Relax," he said quietly and pulled out a white rose. He placed the rose into the woman's hands, then pulled off his glove to let the blood from the wound Kiyoko gave him drip onto the rose.

"So you _are_ the infamous Blood-Stained Rose," Misaki said. "Why did you let yourself get caught so easily?"

The Contractor smiled seductively, "Maybe because I find it quite satisfying to be caught by such a fine woman."

Misaki's eyebrow twitched and she walked quickly over to him. She grabbed his arm and twisted it without gentleness behind his back, making him grunt with discomfort. She then took his other arm and slapped the cuffs on him. She placed her gun on his back and gave him a strong push. "Walk," she growled. The Contractor obediently started walking forward, the calm smirk never leaving his face.

Kiyoko followed closely, a swirl of questions running about in her head. Why did that man place a rose in the woman's hands and cover it with his blood? If he was from Russia, why did he travel all the way to Tokyo? How did he know Kiyoko's name? She had even more questions than that, and she didn't know if she would be able to ask him. It just occurred to her that she was a wolf and couldn't speak the human language. Then again, she hadn't really tried before.

Misaki led the Contractor to her car and shoved him in the backseat. Before she could close the door, Kiyoko jumped in and sat next to him. She looked up at Misaki and hoped she could read her expression. Misaki paused, as if debating whether to let Kiyoko sit back there, but nodded and closed the door. Kiyoko would sit in the back for the ride to make sure he didn't try to do anything. Misaki went around to the front and opened her door, but as she was about to sit down, her phone rang. She took it out and looked at the caller ID, then gritted her teeth with frustration.

"I'm going to take this call real quick, watch him for me," she said with a surprisingly calm voice. Kiyoko nodded and flinched as Misaki slammed the door shut.

"Well, she certainly seems stressed."

Kiyoko glanced over at the Contractor, not surprised that he would begin to talk. She looked back ahead and ignored him.

"Aw, come on now, no need to be so rude, I'm only trying to make conversation. If I'm going to be your future teammate I should get to know you, right?"

A growl escaped Kiyoko's throat. Teammate? Not likely. Was this guy high or something? No doubt he hadn't attacked her earlier because he has this strange delusion that Kiyoko would team up with him. Maybe in a million years when there's nothing better to do.

"Why are you still acting like a wolf? I know you're a Contractor, why not speak?"

Kiyoko remained silent. _I can't speak, you knucklehead, I'M A FREAKING WOLF, _she yelled in her mind.

A smile played across the Contractor's lips. "Oh, is that so?"

Kiyoko snapped her head to the side to look at him with wide eyes. _He heard that?_

"Yes, I did. Though you are not speaking aloud, I can hear you clearly."

Kiyoko almost ran out of the car. _This_ _creep can read my thoughts!_

"No, I am not reading your thoughts, you are projecting them into my mind," he said with a chuckle, "This is a fortunate turn of events. Surely you aren't psychic; you wouldn't be able to turn into a wolf if you were. So that leaves the question: what exactly is your power, hm?" He glanced down at her with an all-knowing smile. Kiyoko's heart skipped a beat; he knew something, surely he did.

_What are you saying? What is it that you are hiding from me? _

The Contractor turned his head forward so that he was no longer looking at Kiyoko.

_Dammit, ANSWER ME! _This time Kiyoko snarled out loud as well as sending the message, but the Blood-Stained Rose continued to look forward with a small smirk. Oh, how Kiyoko wanted to rip it off his face. What was the point of looking at her like that and planting even more questions in her head. He knew so much about her, and she was thoroughly disturbed by it. She had to figure out who this Contractor was working for.

Before she could ask, though, Misaki opened the door and got in with an irritated expression. No doubt she wouldn't be saying anything along the way, and Kiyoko got the feeling that this was going to be a long car ride.

* * *

Misaki flopped on her bed and kicked her shoes off onto the floor. After dropping that Contractor off at the jail she returned to her office and got a long and annoying scolding from her boss. So even if she did catch a Contractor, she wasn't released from her suspension. On top of that, she hadn't finished the day's amount of paperwork, even though she stayed late, and would undoubtedly have to finish tomorrow.

Misaki yawned and turned the lights off as the dog hopped onto her bed. She didn't bother putting her pj's on, all she wanted to do was sleep. She was also rather confused by the file Mayu had given her. Four of the most notorious Contractors all coming to Japan at the same time; why? And worse, it seemed they are all in Tokyo and working together. What exactly were they planning to do? She also had the girl Kiyoko that ran from her house to worry about. It was her job to confirm whether she was a Contractor or not and capture her if she was. Misaki had an awfuly strange feeling that Kiyoko was somehow mixed up in all of these foreigners, though. It seemed she was trying to send her a message, why else would she be getting those dreams? It was only until she looked over the files to her case that she realized it was Kiyoko in her dreams.

Misaki groaned and buried her face into her pillow. Speaking of dreaming, why couldn't she fall asleep? There was a small shift of movement and something pressed against her back as if to comfort her. Despite Misaki's first reaction to turn away, she found the dog quite relaxing. She turned so that she was facing the dog and placed her hand on its side. Did she really want to send this dog away? In truth she wished that she could keep her, but she didn't know if she had enough money.

The dog opened its blue eyes and looked at Misaki questioningly. Misaki couldn't help but feel pulled into that deep gaze, there was something so captivating about it. She smiled and stroked the dog's side.

"Alright, you win," she said as she pushed her forehead against the dog's and let her eyelids fall slowly over her eyes, "but I suppose I should give you a name, shouldn't I?" Her voice softened until it was just a whisper, and when she was done speaking her breath stilled and all the stress melted from her face. With the dog's warmth she had fallen asleep, and she now accepted her as a companion. They seemed to have formed a strange, but satisfactory new bond.

* * *

_Yay, I finally posted! :D I've had absolutely zero time to write more until today. T^T Oh, well~ Aha, so, I don't know if you guys care or not, but I've decided to let you in on something! Lol, I should have done this in the first chapter, whoops!_

_Anywho, each name I give one of my OC's has a meaning that is important. For instance: Kiyoko's parent's names are Mizuki and Takeshi. Mizuki means beautiful moon, and Takeshi means fierce or violent. One of the only things associated with the moon and being violent other than vampires are wolves. Hence- part of the reason Kiyoko can turn into a wolf. Aha, there's another reason, but that would be a spoiler, so you guys have to wait~ Also, Tatsuya means dragon, and dragons are often known to breath fire, so there's the reason Tatsuya's power is fire._

_That was just something I thought I'd tell you guys, even if you don't care. X3 Pretty please review~ Maybe it will motivate me to finish my homework and write more often. XD_

_-BlackSun_


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Connections

Kiyoko slowly wriggled out of Misaki's grasp so as not to wake her. She had been meaning to do this, but found no time during the day. It was probably easiest to do under the cover of darkness anyway, she didn't exactly wish to be caught and thrown into jail with that idiot Blood-Stained Rose. She snorted in remembrance of the way he had given her enough information to tell her that he knew something important, but then dismissed it with that sly smile. Kiyoko had a hard time deciding whether that smile was more like a cat or fox; both of which irritated her to no end.

She growled softly as she circled the living room of the small apartment. She wasn't sure if she would wreck anything as she had when she had first turned into a wolf, but it was too risky to transform outside. As she was about to start her evolution, something clicked in the back of her head. How had Misaki found that Contractor? Her friend seemed to know exactly where he was. Would it be the same with Kiyoko? If she used her powers in Misaki's house, would that cause her trouble?

Kiyoko growled again with irritation. She would have to find a way outside, and she needed to find a good hiding spot. She started sniffing around the front door, and tried to unlock and open it, but found the task impossible to do without opposable thumbs. With a sigh she turned and inspected all of the windows. They each had a lock that held them closed, and each of the locks were too small for her to even dream of opening with her current form.

_Aargh, if only someone could open the door! _she screamed silently in her thoughts. She wasn't entirely sure why she did it, maybe on the off chance that someone she knew who could hear her and understand would walk by. After waiting a few minutes, though, she gave up and hopped onto the couch. She neither wanted to wake up Misaki, nor be in the presence of anyone else at the moment. What if she was never able to find a time or place where she could use her powers to transform?

Kiyoko shook her head at the crazy thought and rolled into a ball. She wasn't even out of high school, how could she not find the time? After mere seconds of the thought, she felt a familiar presence, but she couldn't quite put a face to it. No sooner had she felt it than there was a small clicking at the door that sounded like someone picking the lock. Her head shot up and she hopped to her feet with lightning fast speed. As soon as the door swung open she let out a snarl and tackled her unsuspecting prey.

The person under her gave a grunt of surprise as he hit the floor hard. With her fangs only an inch from the young man's face, Kiyoko inspected his features in the hopes that she would recognize him. He had blond hair that reached only just past his ears, there was a faint smell of smoke, but not enough for him to be an addict, and as he recovered from the shock and opened his amber eyes, Kiyoko figured out who he was. Tatsuya; her mind grasped the name easily as she remembered when he had helped her out.

"Well, I'm glad to see you, too, Kiyoko," he murmured.

Kiyoko's lips fell back into place, covering up her teeth, and she got off of him. _I didn't tackle you because I was glad to see you. I thought you were trying to break into my house, _she replied in a monotone. _Anyway, what are you doing here?_

Tatsuya looked down at her in surprise as he stood back up. "Weren't you the one who called me?"

Kiyoko remembered when she had called out with her mind and sighed. _That wasn't meant specifically for you._

He shrugged. "Then I guess you're lucky that I heard you, or else you'd still be stuck here. Now, why did you want me to open the door?"

Kiyoko let out a quiet growl and shouldered past him. _None of your business. _As she walked away, she heard a small click and then the door shutting, most likely so that Misaki didn't suspect anything. As it was, Kiyoko wasn't entirely sure how she hadn't awakened with all the racket she had made to scare Tatsuya.

"It's every bit of my business."

Kiyoko again growled at the voice of Tatsuya right behind her.

"Why are being so moody? I never did anything to hurt you, remember?"

Kiyoko glanced back at him but did not stop. _You're a Contractor, therefore you have no emotions, which must mean you are acting. So anything that I might feel is compassionate, is most likely just to keep your own self alive._

"But you're a Contractor too, aren't you?" he asked, unfazed by Kiyoko's bluntness.

Kiyoko again growled, a little louder this time. _My case is obviously different, because as you can see, I most definitely am feeling emotions._

"How do I know that? You could just as easily be acting. I can say I'm feeling emotions, but that doesn't mean it's true."

_So you admit it, then?_

"No, that was just an example."

_Yeah, sure, you keep telling yourself that. _Kiyoko turned onto a dark alleyway and stopped. _Here's as good a place as any I suppose._

"For what?" Tatsuya asked with curiosity.

Once again neglecting to answer his question, Kiyoko concentrated hard on transforming back into a human. After a few moments of nothing happening, she snarled with frustration. _Why isn't it working?_

"Probably because you're not concentrating on the right thing," Tatsuya answered.

Kiyoko glared at him. _Who asked you, Sherlock?_

"I believe you did, no matter how much you deny it." Before Kiyoko could reply, Tatsuya put his hand up. "Just let me help. What is it that you're trying to do?"

Kiyoko remained silent. Should she trust this guy? Sure, he seemed ready to help since the moment they met, but that often meant that someone wanted to earn your trust to use you, and betray you. On the other hand, he might be completely sincere and truly want to help Kiyoko because of their supposed childhood connection.

Finally, Kiyoko sighed and looked up at him. _I'm trying to turn back into a human._

Tatsuya nodded. "There's where you're wrong."

Kiyoko tilted her head to the side in confusion. _What's that supposed to mean? I want to turn back into a human._

"No, no. You don't want to turn back into a human; you want to break the connection you've formed with a wolf so that you can return back to your own body."

_...English, please?_

"Here, uh..." Tatsuya poked her heart. "The reason you have feelings is because of your Contractor power. I don't know the full extent, but I've heard your specific power allows you to connect with other beings and take on their form."

Thought filled Kiyoko's gaze as she pondered her power. _So then... I can project my thoughts into other people's minds because I somehow... connect with them? And through the same connections I can take their form?_

"In a way... To my knowledge, you can only take the form of someone you're really close to, but you can speak to anyone as long as you know just one thing about them."

Kiyoko nodded._ Where did you learn all this?_

Tatsuya smiled. "Actually, I think you just met him the other day. His code name is Blood-Rose."

Kiyoko let out an irritated growl. _You mean Blood-Stained Rose? How the heck is he managing to plant himself into my life? _She rolled her eyes. _Whatever. I'm going to try to cut my connections with... this wolf._

Tatsuya recognized the guarded cloud that filled Kiyoko's gaze and guessed she didn't want to remember what wolf she had such a close relationship to. Something bad must have happened, but the wolf is still alive and Kiyoko obviously still felt close to it or she never would have taken its appearance.

Kiyoko closed her eyes and concentrated on trying to break the connection she was supposed to have with this wolf. When her eyes opened, the pupils turned red and a blue glow surrounded her body. She could feel her body begin to change, her paws stretched into slender fingers, her nose squished into her face and her sense of smell dramatically dropped, as well as many of her other senses. The fur then melted away into soft, pale skin. After the transformation, Kiyoko felt completely drained, and she started falling forward, but was instead stopped by the solid form of Tatsuya.

"You okay?" he whispered after giving her a few moments to regain her breath. Kiyoko looked up at him, then straightened.

"Y-yeah, I'm good." She took a step back to see if she could stand on her own, and was pleased to know she could. When she again looked at Tatsuya, he was looking at her with relief, and confusion. "What?" she asked.

"Hm? Oh, nothing. Its just, normally in movies when people go from an animal back to human, they're… not wearing clothes."

Kiyoko's face turned a cherry red and she looked down. When she saw that the clothes she had been wearing the night of her parent's death were still on her body, she looked at Tatsuya with anger.

"And you didn't think to tell me before I transformed so that I could at least have a little warning?!" she lunged forward and punched him in the gut, causing him to loose his breath and fall to his knees. "You sick pervert!" she growled as she started walking back onto the main street. As soon as Tatsuya caught his breath he stood and ran after her.

"Kiyoko, wait, I was kidding! The thought didn't occur to me until afterwards!"

"Ha, yeah right," Kiyoko said without stopping or looking at him, "and pigs might fly."

"Well, despite what you think, I'm telling the absolute truth."

"Oh, really?" Kiyoko stopped and poked a finger into his chest, "Then why was it that you had a confused expression? Were you perhaps wondering why I wasn't completely stripped?" Without waiting for an answer, she turned and continued walking.

"What? No," Tatsuya stepped in front of her, blocking her way, "I was just wondering if you had dyed your hair."

"Dyed my… What are you talking about?" Kiyoko said, looking at him as though he were crazy.

"Your hair," he picked up a strand of it, "its black."

Kiyoko's eyes widened as she looked at the hair. She quickly turned and walked over to a blue car that was parked on the side of the road. She bent so that she could see herself in the mirror and sucked in a breath. Her hair _had _changed from blond to black.

"Well… I've always wondered what I would look like if I dyed my hair black."

"So you didn't dye it?" Tatsuya asked as he came up behind her.

"No, when would I have time to do that?" Kiyoko asked, straightening to look at him. "As soon as you left I became a Contractor and turned into a wolf… I guess that's how my hair changed; maybe I was in the body of the wolf for too long?"

Tatsuya shrugged. "Beats me. If you want to know, it would be best to pay a visit to the expert."

"Let me guess… Blood-Rose?" Kiyoko asked, not really wanting to her the answer.

"Yep, that would be him."

Kiyoko sighed. "Great, so I have to break into a jail to talk to this guy?"

"Well, not necessarily, you can talk to him with your little mind thingy, but we should probably do that in another place."

Before Kiyoko could ask why they had to leave, the faint sound of sirens reached her ears. Understanding right away she nodded.

"Do you have your motorcycle?" she asked.

Tatsuya smiled. "How do you think I got here?"

Kiyoko followed as he ran to his bike that he parked around the corner from Misaki's house and tossed her a helmet, putting his own on afterwards. Once she had settled, Tatsuya turned on the engine and sped toward the freeway. With the wind whipping past their ears, it was impossible to communicate, but Kiyoko guessed they were going somewhere close to the place Blood-Rose was being held. It took only twenty minutes to get off the freeway, as opposed to the forty-five when the road was crowded with traffic the last time Kiyoko made the drive. Tatsuya pulled off the freeway and stopped about a mile away from the actual jail. He took his helmet off and looked back at Kiyoko.

"This is as close as we should get, going any closer will get us caught."

Kiyoko took her helmet off and nodded in response, but didn't try to make the connection with Blood-Rose. "Tatsuya, how do you know him?"

Tatsuya looked back, caught a little off guard from the question, but was still quick to answer. "He's about the most famous Contractor from Russia, and I'm pretty high in Japan. We just happened to meet, that's all."

Kiyoko raised an eyebrow. "So you're from Japan? That means you weren't my next door neighbor in elementary school."

"Yes I was, I just had to move, and we happened to move to Japan."

"Why does that story seem as though you made it up?"

"I didn't."

Kiyoko sighed. "Alright, whatever, but that still doesn't explain how you know Blood-Rose."

"Well, actually, we're sort of team mates, but not exactly. Anyways, he told me to make sure you learn how to use your powers."

"What does he care if I know how to use my powers or not?"

Tatsuya shrugged. "I learned a while ago not to try to understand what's going on in his mind."

Kiyoko rolled her eyes and turned toward the jail. She concentrated on the image of the Russian Contractor that was in her head and worked to make a small connection.

_Is this working? _Kiyoko paused, and when no answer came she tried again. _Blood-Rose, you there?_

_Well, either this is my demented conscience, or it's the wolf girl._

Kiyoko ignored his comment. _Listen, buddy, I'm prepared to make you a deal._

_A deal? Well, that's unexpected; I thought you were just going to interrogate me._

_I am, but I have a feeling you won't help unless I give you something in return, right?_

There was a pause before the Contractor answered.

_I can only tell you what you want to know if it's the right time. Right now its not, but as soon as a few people I know decide to tell you, then I can answer._

_So what you're saying is, no matter what I do, you're only going to tell me what I want to know on your sweet time?_

_Pretty much._

_Then you can rot in the jail for all I care._

_Ouch. I guess that's what it feels like to be thrown away like a piece of trash, huh?_

_You don't even know, you don't have feelings so stop acting as though you do._

_How do you know?_

_Oy, not this conversation again. Listen, Bub, there is no possible way that you can escape without me._

_And why not?_

_That place is Contractor proof, no matter how many of your little friends will come along, they won't be able to pass security. I, however, can get through without any unnecessary blood shed and absolutely no chance of getting caught._

_There's always a chance, sweetheart, don't think that you're invincible because you're under the nose of an officer, it's been done before for a lot longer period._

_Yeah, I know, but I have a way to use said officer to get in and out of the jail without anyone suspecting me. You just have to tell me what I want._

There was another pause, and Kiyoko's hopes rose. If Contractors were truly rational thinkers, then there was no way he could pass up her offer.

_Alright, listen, sweetheart-_

_Don't call me that._

_-if you want to know who I am and how I know about you and your powers so badly, then you're going to have to ditch the officer and find your own way in the world._

_I'm only fifteen. As soon as you know about a country that won't put me in an orphanage until I'm eighteen, call me._

_Touché. Then you'll just have to live at our HQ, and you'll also have to know how to protect yourself._

_I can protect myself just fine… I'll think about the offer._

_What?_

_Listen, I want to know about you and whatever you're planning to do, but I have other things that are important. Believe it or not, you're not the center of everyone's world._

Before the Contractor could reply, Kiyoko cut the connection and took a deep breath in to steady herself from the loss of energy. Tatsuya looked back at her.

"You done?"

"Yeah. There is one question that I didn't ask him, though… Why is it that when I use my powers I feel so drained, even though I'm not using them for that long, or in a high concentration?"

"You're just new at it, that's all. I'm guessing that if you use your powers enough you'll get used to it. It's like running a marathon; you can only do well if you train hard every day."

Kiyoko nodded; it made sense. Of course, that would mean sneaking out like this every night to be able to use her powers safely. "Also, I haven't had any urges to do anything to complete the contract… Do you know what that's about?"

Tatsuya smiled. "Either your contract is expressed in a different way than others, or you're a perfected Contractor that was able to weasel out of a contract. I'm guessing it's the former. Now, shall we be going?"

Kiyoko nodded and pulled her helmet on. The drive back went quickly, and Tatsuya stopped about a mile away from Misaki's house so that Kiyoko could transform. They walked the rest of the way, narrowly avoiding military units sent to search for them.

_You know, for this to work, you're probably going to have to get something a little bit bigger than a motorcycle to drive me around._

"Yeah, I know," Tatsuya smiled, "I just think it looks a lot cooler to escape the military on a motorcycle rather than in some white van that makes us look like pedophiles."

Kiyoko rolled her eyes. _Boys. _Yet she felt the exact same way.

When they reached Misaki's house, Tatsuya let her in, but Kiyoko did little to say thank you or good bye. Instead she ended his visit with: _Now get out of my house before I make a racket that will wake the whole neighborhood up._

Tatsuya just smiled and closed the door. After she was sure he was gone, Kiyoko padded quietly into Misaki's room. From the looks of things she hadn't awakened, which was good. As Kiyoko curled up next to her, she couldn't help but think back to when she had transformed into her human body. She hadn't just felt physically drained, she felt emotionally drained as well. The only thing she could think of that would cause that was when she broke her connection with the wolf. Try hard as she might, Kiyoko fought the name from coming into her head. But it came anyway, along with unwanted but unforgotten memories. _Blue._

* * *

_Yay, after what seems like five billion years, I have posted! :D I don't really have much to say other than: Review or Tatsuya will burn you alive. Nuff said. XD  
_

_-BlackSun  
_


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Blue

Misaki looked around with irritation; what was she doing here? Last thing she remembered was falling asleep next to the dog, she didn't recall ever getting up in the morning- not to mention going back to the scene of the crime where Kiyoko's parents got murdered. _Kiyoko. _The name sent the memory of her last dream spiraling in her head. This Kiyoko was trying to give her a message before, could she be doing it again? Was this another dream?

In answer to her question, a door from upstairs opened and a little girl with blond hair and blue eyes walked down, rubbing her eyes sleepily. _This must be Kiyoko in her younger years, _Misaki thought. Along with the young girl, a small puppy crashed down the stairs recklessly. The puppy looked like a wolf with black fur, and… blue eyes. _Was this the dog when she was a puppy? Of course, she was at the scene… but there was no evidence of them owning a dog._

"Good morning, darling."

A woman materialized on Misaki's left and held her arms out to stop the puppy. She had a wide smile and looked similar to Kiyoko. This had to be her mother, Mizuki. As Kiyoko realized her mother was there, she looked up and ran to her, throwing herself into her arms.

"Hello, Mommy!" she giggled happily.

They looked so happy, it seemed impossible that they had come to such a horrific end. Yet, as if to counter her theory, Misaki noticed a man hovering in the background, most likely Takeshi. He had a sad, almost angry look, but as soon as Mizuki stood and turned to him, his scowl melted into a lovely smile. Mizuki didn't seem to have noticed, but as Misaki looked down at Kiyoko, she could tell there was something different in her expression, she just couldn't place it.

"Breakfast is ready, love," Takeshi said. They then exited into the dining room. Since Misaki couldn't see them anymore, she tried to move to follow, but something seemed to hold her back. Unlike last time, she had no control of her movements. As if she had just stepped into a time machine, when the family exited a few moments later, Kiyoko had turned from an innocent little girl into a quirky middle schooler who was just starting to try to find her way in the world. She had anger and frustration written in her expression, and just before she reached the stairs with her dog on her trail, she turned.

"I won't let you do it, Blue is mine. She's _mine! _We grew up together; she was there for me when you weren't," Kiyoko growled.

"Kiyoko, don't talk back to me," her father warned, "I'm doing what's best for you."

"Best for me?" Kiyoko's voice became a notch louder. "Taking away my best friend and selling her to some stranger who claims that she'll turn wild and dangerous just because she's a wolf?! I've had her ever since she was a pup, we grew and learned together. I am her alpha, father. She won't do anything to harm others unless _I _tell her to, not some feral instincts she doesn't possess!"

"Yes, that's what I'm saying, not unless you tell her to."

Kiyoko's control completely melted away and rage took over. She took a step forward and shoved her face into his, despite the height difference. "Are you implying that I'll tell her to attack someone without cause?" she asked, her voice strangely calm despite the obvious anger on her face.

Takeshi displayed the same control as he stood straighter and glared down at his daughter. "I'm saying it is a very good possibility, with the people you've been hanging out with and that sorry excuse for what you call music."

This time as Kiyoko blinked, trying to hold back tears of frustration she could not keep her voice steady. "It's called heavy metal and it's a very popular form of music. Also, you should know that I don't _have _any friends that would be a bad influence. Every body hates me because of YOU!" Kiyoko turned and sprinted up the stairs, slamming the door to her room once she and Blue were inside. Mizuki sighed and glared at her husband.

"Just because you lost your job doesn't mean you have to take it out on her, she's only twelve."

Takeshi's expression immediately softened. "I'm not taking it out on her, I'm just-"

"No," Mizuki interrupted, "I don't want to hear it. You can think about your actions at someone else's house." With that, she turned and started walking up the stairs.

"We have to get rid of that dog, Mizuki!"

Mizuki just continued to walk, only stopping when she was at her daughter's door. Once she knocked and disappeared inside, Takeshi turned and stamped out of the house. Time once again skipped, only now Mizuki was in the kitchen getting food ready and Takeshi was sitting at the couch watching TV. All of a sudden Kiyoko burst through the door with tears streaming down her face. She ran straight to her mom, who had turned at the sound of the door opening, and latched onto her. A jumble of inaudible words were tumbling out of her mouth as she tried to explain what was wrong.

"Ki-chan, take a deep breath. Tell me what happened, slowly." Mizuki instructed with a steady voice. Kiyoko forced herself to calm down and looked up at her mother.

"They took her! They took Blue! She was waiting for me at the gate and when we were walking home, they just _took _her from me!"

"Shh," Mizuki stroked her hair to quiet her. "Who was it that took Blue?"

"The Animal Catchers that patrol the streets next to school! They said that I wasn't fit to take care of her and that she needed to come with them. They never cared before, and they've seen me with her every day! Why now?"

Despite the realization Mizuki had at that moment, she didn't let it show on her face. She certainly knew why they had taken Blue. "Hush, Kiyoko, I'm sure there's a good reason. Why don't you run upstairs and do your homework. Once you're done, I'll have her back here, I promise."

Kiyoko nodded and sauntered upstairs, still sniffling. When her door was closed Mizuki turned on Takeshi.

"It was you, wasn't it?"

Takeshi looked up with a small, confused smile. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"How could you?" Mizuki fumed, "That dog was your daughter's only friend. You just ripped her whole childhood away from her!"

"That _beast _is the only thing that's keeping her from having friends!" Takeshi argued. "I'm doing her a favor, though it may be hard to see now."

"Clearly." Mizuki took a deep breath to slow her heart rate. "If you don't mind, I'm going to get her _dog _back." She turned and was about to leave, but stopped as she heard a small voice from the top of the staircase.

"It was you?" Kiyoko asked, looking at her father with a world of hurt in her eyes. "You called the Catchers and told them to take Blue?"

"Now, Ki-chan-" Takeshi started, but stopped as anger and despair filled his daughters gaze.

"I _knew _it! Of course it was you; you're _always _trying to ruin my life. First you scare away all of my friends by giving them detention whenever you saw them with me, and now THIS. You wish I had never been born, don't you? Well, guess what? I. HATE. YOU!"

Before either parent could stop her, she ran out of the house and slammed the door. Once she was gone, the scene suddenly swirled and Misaki awoke with a start. Without thinking she looked over to where the wolf- or, Blue- had been sleeping. Nothing but air occupied that half of the bed, so Misaki hoisted herself off of her side and shuffled out into her living room. Blue wasn't there, but the sound of someone shifting through the shelves of the kitchen caught Misaki's attention. Automatically on alert, she crept quietly toward the noise, careful not to alert Blue. After taking a quiet breath, she hurtled into the room and pointed at the wolf that was digging through the cabinets to find food.

"AHA! I caught you, you filthy mutt!" Misaki shouted triumphantly. "Get out of my food supply!" She lunged forward to grab the bag of cookies Blue had in her mouth, but only succeeded in gripping air. Blue had dodged Misaki's hands and ran out of the kitchen. "Hey!" Misaki yelled, chasing after the trouble-maker. Blue maneuvered around the small furnishings, able to barely avoid the woman's clutches. Misaki gave up after one lap around the living room and placed her hands on her hips. "Blue, give that back," she demanded.

Blue froze and looked over her shoulder at Misaki with wide eyes. She seemed surprised that she had known her name. In her moment of confusion, Misaki rushed forward, snatched the cookies away and held them high above her head. Blue made a growl of frustration as she stood on her hind legs to take the cookies back, but Misaki walked past her to the fridge and placed them on top so that she couldn't reach them.

"I'm going to have to get child locks, aren't I?" Misaki asked with her hands on her hips. Blue whined and looked up at her with a forelorne puppy face. "Don't look at me like that, I'm going to get you food, don't worry. You just can't have human food, it's bad for you." Blue didn't seem satisfied, but turned around and trotted into Misaki's room. When she came back out a moment later, she held Misaki's phone in her jaws.

"Hey!" Misaki protested as she realized what Blue had taken. She held out her hand and glared at her. "Give it." Blue didn't hesitate to drop it gently in Misaki's outstretched hand, and then sat on her haunches as if waiting for her to look at the messages. Misaki eyed Blue for a second, then flipped open her phone. "Twenty-nine messages?!" she cried with surprise. As she put her phone to her ear to listen to them, she glanced at the clock. "No wonder," she gasped, "it's eleven-thirty!" She continued to listen to the messages as she dashed into her room and threw some clothes on her bed. In less than ten minutes she had showered, tossed her clothes on, and brushed her teeth. "C'mon," she waved at Blue, "we need to leave."

To Misaki's irritation, Blue happily trotted after her with her tongue lolling out of her mouth. Misaki hurriedly closed the door, locked it behind them and jogged down the steps of her apartment to her car.

"What are you so happy about?" she asked Blue as they reached the bottom of the steps. "Are you purposely trying to make me late to get yelled at?" Blue just continued trotting happily toward the car. Misaki sighed. "I'm beginning to think I made a mistake keeping you, you'd be better off in the wild."

At this Blue stopped and glared at Misaki with a quiet growl rising in her throat. Misaki smiled and unlocked the car doors. She reached forward and held the door open for Blue as she hopped in and sat down with a huff on the passenger side.

"Well then," Misaki said as she sat in the driver's seat, "if it bothers you so much, you should start behaving. Then I might reconsider."

The growl died away from Blue's throat and she looked out the window with contempt. Misaki chuckled before she started the car and accelerated onto the street. Her smile soon faded, though, as she thought about how long the day ahead was going to be, even if it was already half over. The drive went by all too quickly and Misaki found herself dreading the scolding and the possible lengthening of suspension waiting for her in her office. She sighed and looked over at Blue.

"Alright, I might as well get this over with. You don't have to come, just hang around the building or something."

Blue sniffed and rolled her eyes at Misaki as if to say, "Yeah right, that place? _So _not worth my time."

Misaki gave a small smile and ruffled Blue's fur before opening the door and heading to the building, Blue trailing not far behind. Misaki again ignored all of her coworkers as they tried to get her attention, right now she just needed to get to her boss's office as soon as possible. She reached the door with, thankfully, no major interruptions. She paused to take a deep breath before she knocked and entered upon hearing her boss's voice. To her surprise, the look on Horai's face wasn't of anger, nor of irritation or "suspension time."

"Kirihara," he said with his gruff voice, "I'm glad you could make it."

Misaki bowed slightly at the waist. "I'm sorry for being late, Sir, I-"

Horai shook his head. "I don't need to hear an excuse, you've got a lot on your plate with the wolf and staying up late with the paperwork and catching the contractor, I get it."

"Sir?" Misaki asked with a raised eyebrow.

Horai chuckled. "Never mind. The main point is that because of the information on the file Mayu gave you, I have decided that you are more useful on field duty than being holed up in your office. And you're first assignment is with Kanami, she'll give you as much information on the other Contractors as she can, and your job is to bring them in."

Misaki nodded, then stood straight and saluted. "Sir!" She turned and opened the door with her lips pierced together in determination and confusion. Blue trotted next to her with worry clouding her eyes. Misaki went straight to her office to grab the file Horai had mentioned. Before she exited she looked down at Blue with her eyebrows furrowed.

"That was a sudden change in heart that I've never seen before," she said. "I guess this threat is greater than I thought, so you're going to stay here and out of trouble. I'll send Yutaka to get you food."

Blue whined and stepped in front of the door, blocking Misaki's way. She looked up at her with round eyes, begging to be able to go with her owner. Misaki sighed and shook her head.

"No, I believe that you need to stay alive to get back to your original owner, it's my job to find her. That won't work if you get yourself killed by trying to protect me."

Blue growled and sat down with a determined glare.

"I'll take you on other missions, just not this one, okay? This is too dangerous for you." Before Blue could do anything, Misaki pushed past her and opened the door. "Be good, got it?" With that, she closed the door and left.

* * *

Kiyoko rammed herself against the door in protest as Misaki left. That idiot! Didn't she see that she needed her to catch those contractors? She was, after all, the one who caught Blood-Rose. Misaki would have never gotten him if she hadn't been there. Kiyoko growled and began to circle the room. Her plan had completely shattered; the whole point of it was so that she could find these other Contractors to get the information that she needed. What was she supposed to do now? She couldn't call Tatsuya because he can't just walk into a police station and open one of the top officer's offices without getting shot at or tackled. That meant she had to wait for Yutaka to open the door, and then she was gone.

Of course, once she was gone, she had no idea what she would do. She could track down Misaki somehow, maybe with her sense of smell, but that would be pointless, she couldn't outrun a car. Her only other option was- she took a deep breath- Blood-Rose. She truthfully didn't want anything to do with that man, but everything that was happening continuously pointed in his direction. She needed to know about this organization he was apparently working with and why they seemed so interested in her and her powers. She also had several other unanswered questions.

And then those files, what was in them that worked Misaki and Horai up so much? It had to do with Blood-Rose, that was for sure, so maybe she could work as an undercover agent. She snickered at the idea; it seemed too much like one of those old spy movies. She would think she found what she wanted, and then she would get caught. So maybe she would play a double agent, helping both sides as long as it helped her. Again, an old movie. But she needed what both Misaki and Blood-Rose knew in order to find who had killed her parents. She also had a dream about Blue earlier, it was basically a timeline of when Blue was with her up until the day the dog catches had taken her. She obviously needed to find her.

Kiyoko stopped walking for a moment as a thought crossed her mind. Misaki had called her Blue, could that just be a coincidence? She highly doubted it. How had Misaki found out Blue's name? That was another thing she needed to ask Blood-Rose, he would probably know. Just as she started pacing again, faint footsteps tapped on the floor next to the door. Strangely, she recognized that it was Yutaka by the sound of his shoes. He opened the door with a smile.

"Hello, Blue. That's what Misaki is calling you, right? She sent me to-"

He stopped short as Kiyoko sprinted out the door and down the hallway. She wasn't about to get stuck with him all day, she had stuff that she needed to get done. It was no surprise that Yutaka started chasing her, and he would probably tell Misaki who would get mad, but she didn't care.

"Blue!" Yutaka called, "She's already gone, I'm supposed to be watching you now!"

Kiyoko rolled her eyes. Did he think she was an idiot? Her dash came to a halt as she came upon the elevator. She growled, sometimes being a wolf sucked. Thankfully, the door slid open just before Yutaka rounded the corner. Ignoring the surprised officer who just came from inside, she pushed past him and into the small room. Her eyes searched the buttons until she found the one for the first floor, and she stood on her hind legs, bringing her nose up against it. There was a high-pitched beep and Kiyoko stood back on her fours, but the doors weren't closing. Yutaka was only a few steps away; he would surely be able to catch her if the door didn't close. Just before he put his hand in the way to stop the door, Kiyoko jumped forward and tackled him.

Yutaka grunted with surprise as he hit the floor. Kiyoko looked back to the door that had just started sliding closed and she jumped to her feet. She charged through, the doors nearly snagging the end of her tail. No one had followed her; she was in the clear. For now. She waited with impatience for the doors to once again open on the bottom floor. When they did, she galloped across the tile hastily until she reached the automatic front door that let her out onto the concrete.

Outside, Kiyoko looked around for a secluded place while she concentrated on the image of Tatsuya in her mind. '_Hey, knuckle head, get over here!' _she demanded. After a moment's pause, she tried again. _'HEY, TATSUYA!'_

'_Woah, woah! I hear you, there's no need blow my neural passage ways out.'_

'_Then answer me the first time I ask,' _she growled as she rounded a corner and skidded to a halt in an alley way littered with trash.

'_Well, sorry for not hearing you the first time, Miss Priss.'_

'_Still here, smart ass; I'm making my way from the Tokyo Police Department to the jail. If you have firepower, bring it. We're also going to need something bigger than your little bike for when we make the escape.' _Kiyoko ducked behind a crate as a car rolled by.

'_Wait, firepower? Escape? Just what are you planning on doing, Princess?'_

'_Ugh, you guys and your nicknames. Just for calling me that, you won't find out until you get here. And hurry!'_

Kiyoko cut the connection and looked around with disgust. She just had to pick the dirtiest side street in the city, didn't she? But she needed to be hidden to transform, getting caught wasn't on her schedule. She closed her eyes, and when she reopened them a blue glow surrounded her- the start of her change from wolf to human. This time as her transformation finished she didn't feel as great of a loss of energy as she did the first time, but she still had to reach out to the brick wall next to her for support. After a moment's pause, she straightened and walked carefully toward the street with a slight wobble in her gait. That was going to get old, especially in the middle of a heated battle. _Battle. _The word rang through her mind, resonating with kind familiarity. She hadn't had a good fight in a long time, and she could already feel the first effects of adrenaline pumping through her veins. The brief encounter with Blood-Rose wasn't anything compared to the brawls she had over the years with several others. Though there wasn't much of a chance of her actually getting into a fight, she had a score to settle with Blood-Rose to make sure he knew who was in charge, and who was asking the questions. So she would beat the crap out of him when they were safe.

Kiyoko looked around for a brief moment as the sound of sirens reached her ears. They were closer than they had been the last few times, most likely because she was right next to the Tokyo Police. '_Damn it, Tatsuya, where are you?' _she asked herself with frustration. As if on cue, the newest model of a silver Corvette pulled up to the curb with its window rolled down.

"Calm down, I'm here, Princess." Tatsuya said with a smirk.

Kiyoko rolled her eyes and opened the car door, jumping in and slamming it closed. "Took you long enough," she mumbled. Tatsuya smiled and stepped on the gas, bringing the car up to 80 miles per hour within a matter of seconds. "Did you bring the guns?" Kiyoko asked after a few seconds of silence.

"Of course, they're back there in the suitcase," Tatsuya replied, nodding his head toward the back seat. Kiyoko got up in her seat and twisted around to take a look at the strength of the firepower he had brought. Beneath the lid of the suitcase, she was surprised to see several different kinds of guns from pistols to machine guns and even a few grenades.

"What, were you planning for a war or something?" she asked as she sifted through the pile, picking up a few of the guns and turning them in her hands.

"Well, you were the one who ordered me to bring as much as I could get, and I thought that would be a little much."

"And this isn't?" Kiyoko retorted, finally deciding on a hand gun that she recognized as the standard police edition. After she gathered a few packages of ammo, she faced forward and slid back to a sitting position. "Where did you get all of this stuff, anyway?"

"The HQ, it's where we keep all of our supplies in case of an emergency."

"HQ? Blood-Rose mentioned something about that. I guess this means you lied and you _do _work with him."

"No, I said that we don't _exactly _work together, that's not a lie. All of our assignments are separate and we never make contact."

"But you're still taking orders from the same person."

Tatsuya sighed. "Listen, it's not my place to tell you anything, you'll just have to wait."

"That sounds awfully familiar," Kiyoko mumbled and looked out the window. Blood-Rose had come up with the same excuse when she had started asking him questions. It seemed the only way to learn what she needed was to join their little group.

"So," Tatsuya said, breaking Kiyoko's train of thought, "what exactly is your plan?"

"I've been to the jail before; the security's easy to get around if you have the right identity. At the front gate, if the officers know your face then they let you in; simple. Then on the inside they do a various scanning of the eyes and fingerprints to make sure you're not an imposter; again, easy. If my powers copy the subject exactly in every asset, that is. Once I'm through with that, all I have to do is talk to the warden and get permission to take Blood-Rose out of his cell. That shouldn't be hard either, because he seemed to look up to Misaki. You, of course, will stay outside because you're not in the system. When I have Blood-Rose, I leave, you drive us out, and we're in the clear to return to your little hideaway."

Tatsuya nodded as he slowed to turn a corner. "Where do the guns come into this?"

"If my plan fails, I can't really use my powers to attack, so I have to resort to the modern trigger-and-bullet style."

Tatsuya smiled and shook his head. "I'm thinking I'll need to think of a different nickname for you."

"And you just realized this now?"

He glanced at her with a smirk. "Well, for the most part you always seem quite proper and girly like a princess."

Kiyoko glared at him and brought her gun down on his head.

"Ow," Tatsuya protested, rubbing his head, "what was that for?"

"Being a jerk."

Tatsuya glanced at her with a small pout. "You're so mean."

"Me?!" Kiyoko looked at him with surprise. "That was just payback."

"But I was only teasing!"

"Stop whining and suck it up," Kiyoko growled and folded her arms over her chest. After a moment of silence, Kiyoko looked up with alarm. "Shoot, I forgot that I'm probably going to need the same clothes and glasses that Misaki has."

"Already taken care of," Tatsuya informed her.

"What? How?"

"Just a good guess one of my colleagues had, she knows how to think ahead."

Kiyoko eyed him suspiciously. A "good guess" didn't seem right at all; she doubted anyone could read the future like that unless they were a contractor. Why so many secrets? Was it that bad for her to know about what she was up against? Or rather, thinking of joining? She shook her head and looked forward- it didn't matter, she would find out soon, and she needed to transform at the current moment.

She closed her eyes and concentrated hard. She wasn't sure, but she guessed making the connection would be a bit harder than with Blue since she hadn't tried before. She washed her mind free of all thoughts except an image of Misaki. The first few moments passed, and nothing happened. Unwilling to give up, Kiyoko switched from just an image of Misaki to the memories of that morning that seemed to make her smile for no reason. This was all she needed to jumpstart her powers and she immediately began to morph into Misaki.

Her figure grew from a young girl's into a mature woman's. Her hair melted from black to brown and grew a few inches. Before the transformation was finished, Kiyoko started breathing heavily; it was as if her stamina was being depleted by the second. By the time her powers turned off, she felt dizzy and had spots covering her vision.

"You alright?" Tatsuya asked, glancing at her.

She looked over at him and nodded. "Just a little out of breath, that's all." Though she said this, her brow furrowed. "Actually, I can barely see a thing, it's all blurry."

"That's probably because your vision changed to match Misaki's as well as her appearance. Now, you'd better hop in the back and get changed quickly, we're almost there."

"What?" Kiyoko looked at him with confusion. "Why can't you just pull over?"

"Because you just used your powers, and we will get caught."

"…Fine, whatever," Kiyoko mumbled as she unstrapped her seat belt and climbed into the back seat. She hadn't noticed before, but a blue business suit and a pair of glasses were settled on the seat behind Tatsuya. She picked up the glasses and slid them onto her nose. She smiled with relief as her vision cleared and she could see normally again. She then went about getting into the blue suit Misaki always wore. She finished just before they reached the prison gates and hopped back into the front, strapping her seat belt. "Well," she looked at Tatsuya, "here goes nothing."

* * *

_Me: I finally posted! *happy dance*_

_Kiyoko: Dude, seriously? You haven't updated in, like, 4 weeks. My life is taking too long!_

_Me: I know... *sniffle* I'M SO SORRY! *goes in a corner and cries*_

_Kiyoko: *eye twitch* I can't believe she was the one who made me... *walks away*_

_Me:*still crying in a corner*_

_We~ell that about sums up what I'm feeling right now. XD Seriously, though, sorry for the late post, everything's been pretty hectic recently. I hope it'll start to be better... Oh well~ Please forgive me, and review cuz you love me! XD_

_-BlackSun_


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Jail Break

Tatsuya pulled the car to a stop in front of the prison gates and rolled his window down as an officer stepped forward to meet him. The officer was old and carried a bored look on his face as though nothing happened there. Which was probably true since no one ever came to visit any Contractors due to their destructive tendencies. Kiyoko winced slightly; she couldn't be stereotypical to contractors anymore since she was one. It was just out of habit that she thought like that.

"You here on official business or just being a nosy brat?" the officer questioned Tatsuya who opened his mouth to no doubt say something stupid, but Kiyoko spoke before he could.

"Yes, we're here on official police business. Classified stuff. If you could kindly open the gates I might not have to report your attitude to your superiors," she said. The officer looked across the car to her and his eyes widened slightly.

"O-of course, Ms. Kirihara, I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were with him," the officer stumbled across his words frantically, hoping to redeem himself. He turned and entered the small toll booth-like building he had been sitting in earlier and pressed a button. There was a buzzing sound before the chain link fence that was blocking their entrance slid to the side. Tatsuya stepped on the gas and drove through to the parking lot and parked as close as he could get.

"Here you are, princess," he smiled. Kiyoko glared at him as she unbuckled her seat belt and reached to open the door.

"Keep your eyes on the building entrance for when I come back out; I may need an escape route."

"Of course, M'Lady," he replied, still giving her an arrogant smile. She slammed the door hard and walked away with a huff. She was _never _going to get used to his and Blood's annoying, demeaning nicknames. She was surely going to shoot their brains out before the end of the day. She took a deep breath and straightened her posture to look as in-control and assertive as Misaki normally was. She felt like an idiot trying to be dominant and utterly failing. She was used to being the rebel, not the leader.

She tried to place the nervousness in the back of her mind as she walked up to the doors and confronted the security guards. They only needed to glance at her before stepping aside and letting her go through. How had she been so lucky to be found and taken in by Misaki? Best thing that probably ever happened to her in her life. Once she was in the building she looked along the white hallways and corridors, trying to remember the route she had taken to get Blood in his cell. Not wanting to look indecisive and confused to the others around her, she turned on her heel and made her way down the left; hoping that this was the right way. She almost wanted to stop and ask for directions, but didn't feel comfortable doing so when it felt as though all of the officer's eyes were staring hundreds of hole into her. She walked straight until she reached the second right and turned. Her eyes narrowed as she searched the walls for something, anything that would give a clue to where she was.

Though she saw none, she didn't falter her stride due to the few officers that still meandered the halls, and also the cameras that seemed to line every single curve in the hall. As she neared a fork in the hall, she quickly made up her mind to turn left. She clenched her fists and continued walking, cursing herself at walking straight into this place without preparing in the slightest. She was grateful that Tatsuya had given her a few necessities, but his ability to obtain money and trinkets only went so far; he could never have prepared her for the jail that was literally a labyrinth. Kiyoko glanced sideways at every door she passed, hoping to find some sort of labeling, but came up empty. This continued until she saw a large door in front of her opening. She took in a deep breath, relived that she found someone to lead her back to the entrance, but stopped short as she caught a glimpse of what was behind the doors

The room looked like a standard interrogation room. It had a small entry that consisted of technology that Kiyoko couldn't have even imagined existed, and a large window that allowed vision into where the actual interrogations took place. In that room, Blood-Rose sat in a chair, his hands tied behind his back. His face was red, his lips were cracked and bleeding, and the sharp flame of rebellion was alight in his eyes; a look that she often found if she saw herself in the mirror. Just before two large officers stepped in the doorway to block her view, she saw the man "interrogating" Blood pull back a fist and hit him squarely in the jaw. She barely stopped herself from gaping at the scene, but couldn't say the same for her anger. It was the warden who stepped outside along with another officer, so the incident wasn't just happening because Blood got a little too cocky. The warden not only _allowed _it, but seemed to almost _reward _it. His expression wasn't pleased, but it wasn't disgusted by the behavior either. This sent Kiyoko into a rage. While she knew Blood had killed someone, he was only being treated with such disrespect due to the fact that he was a Contractor. Kiyoko was also one; would she be treated the same way if she was ever caught? She stepped forward, without feigning her confidence. The warden looked up with surprise as he realized that she was there.

"Kirihara! I am sorry, I was not informed-"

"Cut the crap, Major," Kiyoko snarled as she stopped in front of him and thrust her face into his, "what the hell is it you are doing to these prisoners?!"

"I do not know what-"

"Don't give me that! Answer the question. _Now._"

The warden paused, not sure what to respond. He knew that Kirihara was strong-willed, but he never expected her to be so soft-hearted. He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. It was in that short moment that Kiyoko realized how exhausted he looked.

"Listen, Kirihara, I don't make it a normal occurrence to hurt my prisoners, but this had to be done. He's suspected of being the head of a large criminal organization made up of Contractors that are planning something. Something too big for me to see right now, it's that dangerous."

Kiyoko's breathing subsided a little, but that still didn't make her any less angry. She didn't believe anyone deserved such treatment, especially when they knew so little about him. He was from _Russia _and as far as she knew they didn't get any useful files on him. So had he truly done anything that bad? Maybe the woman he killed was part of some conspiracy theorist group and he actually saved hundreds of lives. It could happen. She took a deep breath and stepped back.

"Fine, whatever. But I'm going to need to take custody of him once you're done," she ordered.

The warden looked surprised for a moment before he came frustrated. "Kirihara, I just said-"

"I'm well aware of what you just said; you don't need to repeat yourself. The whole reason why I came here was to pick him up, that little display isn't my reasoning."

The warden's frustration melted into confusion. "Then what is your reasoning?"

"Despite what you think, we got some information on him that says he's not a normal Contractor. He doesn't use his powers to murder."

The warden raised an eyebrow. "Do you have proof of this?"

"Do I really need proof? I was pretty sure that I have authority over his whereabouts anyway because he's my case until I sign it over to you, isn't that right?"

The warden blinked, knowing that he couldn't counter that but didn't want to admit it. Finally, he motioned to the guard that had been talking with him as he exited the interrogation room. "Retrieve the prisoner and bring him to Kirihara's car."

The guard nodded and left, leaving Kiyoko alone with the warden. As soon as the door closed behind the guard, the warden turned on Kiyoko and glared at her.

"Who are you?" he hissed. Kiyoko gave him an emotionless look, though her heart skipped a beat at the thought of being found out.

"Misaki Kirihara. You know that. What is your point?"

The warden gave her a scrutinizing look but dropped his accusations and took a step back as the door once again clicked open. The guard from before pushed Blood-Rose out into the hallway and stopped in front of Kiyoko.

"Thank-you," Kiyoko said, "I'll take it from here."

The guard nodded and let go, no, practically threw Blood's arm down. He then took a step back and looked at the warden for orders. The warden said nothing, still boring holes into Kiyoko.

"Good-bye, Major," Kiyoko said as she grabbed Blood's arm and dragged him away from the two men. When they were far enough away, an arrogant smile formed on Blood's lips.

"So what do I owe the pleasure of such a fine officer's presence today, hm?"

"Can it, Blood-Rose, or I'll shove my gun into your mouth and blow out your vocal chords," Kiyoko growled.

"Wouldn't that kill me, though?"

"Probably. Do I care? No."

"So why did you come here if you don't need me, then?"

"You're going to take me to your headquarters and I'm going to arrest all of the people you're working with, including that one dragon guy."

"Fire guy?" Blood raised an eyebrow in confusion at first, but realized what she was getting at. The real Kirihara didn't know about Tatsuya and his powers unless Kiyoko told her about him. And since Kiyoko could transform into other people, there was only one person this could be. "Ah, I see," he said and smiled, "I'm sorry you feel that way but it's not going to happen today. I've got a few things to take care of with you."

Kiyoko glared at him. "In your dreams maybe." She all of a sudden stopped walking and looked around. "Shoot… I'm lost again. That just great." She started to walk, but paused as sirens started screaming and lights started flashing red. Her brow furrowed and she focused on figuring out what was happening, but didn't need to as five men came bursting around the corner she and Blood had just come from. "Hey, you!" the one in front yelled, "Stop!"

* * *

Asuma watched as Kirihara walked away, dragging the Russian along behind her. He didn't know what it was, but something seemed a little off about her; it was something in her eyes that wouldn't have been there on a normal day. No sooner had she walked around a corner than his phone rang. He took it out of his pocket and checked the caller ID. He practically stopped breathing as he saw the name of the contact. It was none other than Kirihara. He flipped the phone open and put it to his ear.

"Hello?" he asked, hoping that it was a stranger on the other end.

"Major, it's Kirihara. I'm calling to warn you about a Contractor that we believe is heading toward the jail; he might already be there. I'm on my way, but you should probably keep a look out just in case."

Asuma paled at this news and almost dropped his phone. How the heck could he have let a Contractor in and out of the jail without even realizing it? And releasing a fellow Contractor back to her, no less.

"I think I've found her," he said slowly, "Impersonating you perfectly."

"Wait, what?!"

"I'll have to explain later, I need to catch a Contractor." Without waiting for a response, he shut the phone and looked at the guard next to him. "Go get the others out of the room, we have a code red." The guard leapt into action and Asuma pulled out his walkie-talkie as he began running in the direction of the not-Kirihara. "All units close doors and patrol thoroughly, we have a code red. I repeat: code red. A Contractor has infiltrated our ranks posed as Misaki Kirihara, arrest on sight. She is armed and dangerous with another Contractor to help her. Once again, we have a code red, all units close doors, arrest Misaki Kirihara on sight."

With that, he placed his walkie-talkie into the holster on his belt and continued running, a few guards joining him on the way. It didn't take long for them to locate Kirihara's clone, and she didn't seemed to be the least bit frazzled by what was going on. Just like a Contractor.

"Hey, you!" one of the guards that had pulled ahead of Asuma called, "Stop!"

* * *

Kiyoko immediately pulled out her gun and shot the chain that connected Blood's handcuffs to one another then aimed at the guards running at them. She fired a few shots before turning and running. Blood followed closely behind, not bothering to help in any way. Kiyoko glared at him.

"Can't you use your powers to blast us out of here or something?!" she yelled. Blood smiled.

"Can't you say please?"

From behind them, more guards were gathering and firing bullets. All of them missed, but only barely. Kiyoko turned and shot a few more rounds before turning forward again.

"Dammit, Blood, we're in the middle of a high-security jail with at least ten armed officers chasing after us, do you want to get killed?"

"Technically," Blood weaved to the side as more shots were fired from behind them, "I won't get hit because of my powers so I have nothing to worry about. You, on the other hand could easily be killed."

Kiyoko fired a few more shots, hitting two of the officers, but as she pulled her trigger again no bullets came out. She would have reloaded the gun if there weren't five more officers in front of them that they had to slide to a halt to avoid.

"Blood!" she screamed angrily at him. He simply smiled.

"Alright, hold on tight."

"What do you mean-" Kiyoko was cut off as Blood swooped her off her feet bridal-style. She yelped and wrapped her arms around his neck, not expecting him to pick her up. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm saving you, princess, just like a night in shining armor. Very poetic, no?"

Just before the guards could reach them, Blood sent out a blast of energy that hurled shattered psychic shards outward. Scarlet blood was spattered across the white walls like a bad paint job and the screams of the men were cut short as the shards tore through their vital organs. Kiyoko cringed at the sight and buried her head into Blood's shoulder. If she was a Contractor, why couldn't she handle this? She couldn't even fathom the answer. When all of the men had fallen, Blood began running towards the exit of the jail. Kiyoko unburied her head from his shoulder and looked up at him.

"If you could do that then why didn't you try to escape before?" she asked.

"It's not the same," he replied, keeping his eyes in front of them. "You had to learn that you need me on your own. Took you a while, but it worked."

Kiyoko scowled at his insult. "You were only in jail for three days."

"A lot longer than when I recruited the last member of our team; took him all of two hours to figure it out."

"Well, the circumstance was different, and he's stupid for trusting so easily."

"Isn't that what you did with Misaki though? You seemed fine to live with her after only a few hours of knowing who she was."

Blood slid to a halt in front of a wall and used his powers to blast a hole through it, then kept running.

"Only because I need her to get what I want," Kiyoko growled. Blood sniffed with disbelief.

"Sure, whatever you say, princess."

"_Don't call me that!_" Kiyoko protested. "I don't care how poetic it is!"

Blood smiled, "But I like that name and from your position right now you can't do anything about it, now can you?"

Kiyoko couldn't fight off the small blush that crept to her cheeks so she just looked away from him. "Whatever…"

Blood skid to a halt and once again blasted through a wall. Sunshine poured through the hole and Kiyoko had to squint to see anything. She was surprised how fast they reached the outside of the building, she was sure she had walked at least a mile towards the center. Or at least that's what it felt like. Blood sprinted through the parking lot toward where Tatsuya had opened his door and jumped out once he saw the explosion.

"Get back in the car!" yelled Blood. Tatsuya didn't hesitate to sit down and start the engine up. Blood set Kiyoko down next to the passenger seat and opened the door for her. She dove in, just barely avoiding the door as it slammed shut. Instead of getting in the car, Blood turned toward the hundreds of officers not only running toward them but driving heavily armed cars toward them.

"What is he doing?" Kiyoko asked Tatsuya frantically.

"Just watch," Tatsuya said calmly. Kiyoko stared at him for a moment, wondering how he could feel so at ease with the whole U.S. army barreling through the parking lot just to capture them. Tatsuya noticed her staring and grabbed her chin, gently causing her head to turn to look at Blood.

"This isn't something you want to miss," he said. Blood wasn't doing anything but standing there, taking deep breaths. At first, Kiyoko thought he was going to do something absolutely crazy and life-risking, but what happened next wasn't something she expected at all. Blood raised his hands with his palms facing up toward the sky, breathing slowly and deeply. Something about the action seemed to calm even Kiyoko and for a moment time slowed as she watched him. She didn't know whether it was his powers or just her mind playing tricks on her, but the jail guards all seemed to be running in slow motion, their shouts and orders were slurred as their speech turned into molasses. It all came to a crashing halt as Blood suddenly pounded his palms onto the ground. For the first few seconds nothing happened, but then the ground in front of Blood began collapsing into itself. Kiyoko's jaw dropped as the crater took all of the vehicles and guards down with it, but seemed to avoid the jail entirely. She didn't realize it then, but Blood had purposefully done that to avoid releasing murderous Contractors onto the streets. He wasn't a villain, but a misunderstood hero. Once the earthquake died down, Blood slowly pushed himself to his feet and pulled the car door open weakly. He collapsed onto the seat and closed the door behind him, breathing heavily. Tatsuya slammed on the gas petal as soon as the door was closed and raced away from the jail. Kiyoko turned to look at Blood, hoping he was ok.

His eyes were closed and his breathing was strained, as opposed to how calm it was only a few moments ago. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a white rose, then took a knife from the suitcase full of weapons beside him. He used the knife to cut his arm and let the blood from it slowly drip onto the rose. Kiyoko saw that his arm was completely covered in scars that were caused from knife wounds similar to this and she silently wondered how many times he had to cut himself to make up for using his power. She pressed her lips into a white line as she turned slowly back to face the front of the car. Tatsuya glanced at her, trying to read her expression.

"So what did you think?" he asked. Kiyoko looked at him, her eyes holding so many different emotions that it was impossible to tell what they all were.

"Just… wow," was all she could say. And really, what other words were there to describe what she had just seen? She couldn't have even begun to believe that such a feat was possible only a week ago, but now… this was her life. She was living a fantasy with supernatural life and death that she couldn't avoid, but she wasn't even close to being able to survive on her own. Tatsuya could burn her alive, Blood could burry her a thousand feet under the earth's crust, and there was no telling what other powers a Contractor might have. She was just a rookie, no matter how much she wanted to deny it. She was outclassed and out… everything. If a Contractor as strong as Blood was the one who killed her parents, how would she be able to even scratch him?

"Hey, are you alright?" Tatsuya asked quietly. Kiyoko was snapped from her thoughts and she looked up at Tatsuya, a little bit dazed.

"Y…yeah, I'm fine. Just getting ready to transform, that's all," she lied. Tatsuya didn't say anything, but she knew that he didn't believe her. He had enough courtesy to drop it for the moment, though, so Kiyoko faced forward and closed her eyes. The transformation was a bit harder this time, and it only seemed to prove her point. All she could do was transform into someone that she knew, and even then her breathing became labored and she felt as though she were going to pass out. When she was finally able to control her breathing she opened her eyes and glance around her. They had just turned off the freeway and were back in the city.

"Where are we going?" she inquired.

"The HQ," Blood said from behind her. She glanced back at him with surprise, not expecting him to be able to speak so soon. She raised an eyebrow and a slightly playful look entered her eyes.

"And I thought that I had to ditch Kirihara to go there, why the sudden change in heart, hm?"

Blood smiled, that same perverted, arrogant smile that he always seemed to carry when addressing her or another woman.

"Maybe it's because I'm finally seeing your true form. I honestly didn't expect you to be so cute."

Kiyoko rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at him before turning back around.

"No, it's more like Blood needs immediate attention and the only place for that is the HQ," Tatsuya explained, "we have someone there that can heal his wounds."

"Oh… How many other Contractors do you have there?"

"Depends on the day: could be five, could be twenty. No one really stays there except for a few so you never know who's going to be there."

Kiyoko nodded, trying to picture what life would be like if she lived there, seeing knew faces everyday. She wasn't sure if she'd like it or hate it, considering she lived in a city where you never see a person you know unless you set up a meeting. It took only five minutes to arrive at the "HQ." It was an abandoned parking garage.

"Uhm, why are we here?" she asked.

"This is the entrance for the HQ," Tatsuya answered, "or at least one of them. We have several so that the government and police don't catch on." Tatsuya reached into the cup holder in the car and pulled what looked like a garage door opener out. He pressed the button, and right away the sound of gears shifting came to Kiyoko's ears. In front of them a ramp opened that lead below the parking garage. The walls, ceiling, and ground of it was made out of metal. There were bright lights in the two top corners of the passage way. Kiyoko breathed in sharply, unable to believe her eyes. This wasn't just a place to crash, this was a full-on, villainous, futuristic, _impenetrable _headquarters.

"Oh, there is one thing I must warn you about," Tatsuya said before proceeding down into the passageway, "Watch out for Sparky."

Kiyoko raised an eyebrow. "Sparky?"

"Yeah," Tatsuya smiled, "he likes to blow things up."

Kiyoko bit her lip; this guy sounded like a crazed terrorist. She suddenly wasn't so sure if coming here was the best idea she'd ever had; but it was too late now. The car continued moving forward to what could either be Kiyoko's salvation; or her doom.

* * *

_Doom. Definitely her doom. Spoiler alert: Kiyoko is going to be caught in an explosion and die next chapter. XD Just kidding! That would be the world's worst ending for a fanfiction... Hey, Phoenix. Guess what? :3 Sparky is modeled off a certain someone that you like to obsess over... Just thought I'd put that out there. Anywho! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter so much that you write a five paragraph essay telling me how mush you loved it! ...No, just... no. If you leave me an essay I will be extremely worried for your mental health. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't review! Whether its criticism or just to say you like the chapter, post it! Petty please with a cherry on top? :3_

_-BrightSun  
_


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